Fatty acid consumption linked to type 2 diabetes risk in women

Women who consume foods with high levels of omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes vs. women who consume less than 1.3 g of fatty acids daily, regardless of BMI, according to study findings presented at the 52nd European Association for the Study of Diabetes Annual Meeting.

“Different polyunsaturated fatty acids appear to have different effects regarding the risk for developing type 2 diabetes,” Courtney Dow, MPH, epidemiologist at the Centre for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health, INSERM, France, and colleagues said in a press release. “A high consumption of docosapentaenoic acid and arachidonic acid may contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes. We wouldn’t necessarily recommend cutting these sources out of our diet, but perhaps diminishing meat intake, as it is often consumed in quantities much greater than our nutritional requirements.”

Courtney Dow

Dow and colleagues analyzed data from 71,334 French women aged 40 to 65 years from the E3N cohort, a prospective study initiated in 1990 to investigate risk factors associated with cancer and other noncommunicable diseases. Women completed self-administered questionnaires every 2 to 3 years and a validated food frequency questionnaire sent in 1993.

Researchers found that women who consumed more than 1.6 g high omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) per day had a 26% increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes compared with women who consumed less than 1.3 g high omega-3 PUFA per day.

When stratified by body weight, researchers found that total PUFA consumption was positively associated with type 2 diabetes in normal-weight women only (BMI < 25 kg/m²); those who consumed at least 15.3 g per day had a 22% increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes vs. those who consumed 12 g PUFA per day or less. High omega-3 consumption was associated with an increased risk for diabetes both in women with overweight and those with normal weight, according to researchers.

Among omega-3 PUFAs, increased consumption of foods with docosapentaenoic acid (DPA; 0.08 g per day) was associated with increased risk for type 2 diabetes in women with overweight (45% increased risk) and normal-weight women (54% increased risk) vs. those who consume less than 0.19 g DPA per day.

Women with overweight who consumed at least 1.14 g per day of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) had a 17% increased risk for type 2 diabetes vs. women with overweight who consumed less than 0.9 g per day of foods with ALA.

Within the omega-6 fatty acid group, only arachidonic acid was associated with diabetes. Normal-weight women who consumed at least 0.25 g per day of arachidonic acid had a 50% increased risk for type 2 diabetes, and women with overweight had a 74% increased risk for type 2 diabetes vs. those who consumed less than 0.19 g per day.

The associations of DPA and arachidonic acid persisted after adjustment to account for consumption of meat. Researchers reported that the main sources of DPA for the cohort were meat (31.3%) and fish/seafood (22.6%); main sources of arachidonic acid were meat (42.7%), fish/seafood (10.7%) and eggs (9.7%).

“The principal sources of the fatty acids associated with an increased type 2 diabetes risk in our study were meat and fish/seafood,” Dow told Endocrine Today. “We often consume meat in quantities exceeding our nutritional requirements, so we believe that in decreasing our meat consumption, we could decrease the risk of type 2 diabetes, as it was only at the highest level of consumption that it was observed as harmful.” – by Regina Schaffer

Reference:

Dow C, et al. Poster #286. Presented at: 52nd EASD Annual Meeting; Sept. 12-16, 2016; Munich.

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.