Objectives: To study the association between content in adipose tissue of very long-chain n-3 fatty acids, trans fatty acids, linoleic acid and a-linolenic acid and risk of a ®rst myocardial infarction. Design and subjects: A case-control design among 100 patients and 98 population controls both men and postmenopausal women, age 45 ± 75 y. Adipose tissue fatty acids were determined by gas ± liquid chromatography. Intake data were obtained through interview using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Results: Dietary intake and adipose tissue content of the fatty acids studied correlated signi®cantly. Adipose tissue contents of eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3), docosapentaenoic acid (22:5n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3) were signi®cantly lower while those of trans fatty acids, linoleic and a-linolenic acid were signi®cantly higher in patients than in controls. Age and sex adjusted odds ratios (OR) were signi®cantly reduced with increasing quintiles of very long-chain n-3 fatty acids, thus the OR in the ®fth compared to the ®rst quintile was 0.23 (95% CI 0.08 ± 0.70). After further adjustment for waist-to-hip ratio, smoking, family history of CHD and content of trans fatty acids, the OR in the highest quintile was 0.17 (95% CI 0.04 ± 0.76) and the P for trend 0.016. Age and sex adjusted OR was increased in the ®fth compared to the ®rst quintile of trans fatty acids (OR 2.81, 95% CI 1.16 ± 6.84), linoleic acid (OR 2.10, 95% CI 0.87 ± 5.07) and a-linolenic acid (OR 1.96, 95% CI 0.83 ± 4.61), and P for trend was 0.002, 0.005 and 0.020, respectively. The trends remained signi®cant after adjustment for waist-to-hip ratio, smoking, and family history of coronary heart disease. Trans fatty acids, linoleic acid and a-linolenic acid in adipose tissue were strongly correlated, indicating a common source, most likely margarine. When each of these fatty acid species were adjusted for the two others the trends were no longer signi®cant. Conclusion: Intake of very long-chain n-3 fatty acids as re¯ected in adipose tissue content is inversely associated with risk of myocardial infarction. Trans fatty acids, linoleic and a-linolenic acid were intercorrelated and associated with increased risk. It is suggested that the increased risk may be connected to trans fatty acids or to some other factor associated with margarine consumption.

Objective:To investigate to what extent individual energy intakes can be predicted by rapid easily available low-cost estimation methods. Design: Data were obtained from a controlled dietary intervention study period of nine weeks in which the subjects should be weight stable. Subjects: Thirty-one male students in domestic and kitchen management aged 29 AE 6 y. Methods: (1) energy intake calculated from a quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQEI); (2) energy expenditure derived from estimates of basal metabolic rate (BMR) (FAOaWHOaUNU, 1985) based on weight, gender, age and low (1.556BMR), medium (1.786BMR) or high (2.106BMR) level of activity. Level of activity was determined by questions concerning habitual activities lasting more than 20 min (WHOEE); (3) energy expenditure derived from individual recording in a specially prepared activity diary (ADEE). During the intervention, the subjects were to be fed test diets which should provide them with enough energy to keep them weight stable. The energy levels were established after taking both the FFQEIs, WHOEEs and ADEEs into consideration, and 10 MJ, 13 MJ, 15 MJ and 17 MJ per day were chosen because these levels were estimated to closely match the energy requirements of most of the subjects. The levels of energy were changed during the intervention period if the weight of the subjects¯uctuated. The served level of energy at the last day of the intervention was denoted the weight maintenance energy intake (WMEI). WMEI was compared to FFQEI, WHOEE and ADEE in order to evaluate if one estimation method predicted WMEI better than the two others. Results: None of the three methods provided accurate estimates of WMEI of 13.3 AE 1.8 MJ. However, WHOEE, gave the best estimate as demonstrated by the limits of agreement: 78.7 MJ to 8.9 MJ for FFQEI, 75.4 MJ to 3.9 MJ for WHOEE and 77.2 MJ to 5.2 MJ for ADEE. The coef®cients of correlation between the differences and the means of WMEI and FFQEI, WHOEE and ADEE were 70.8 (P 0.001), 0.1 (P 0.6, NS) and 70.5 (P 0.01), respectively. The coef®cients of variation were 34.6% for FFQEI, 11.3% for WHOEE, and 21.0% for ADEE. Conclusions: Although not precise, WHOEE showed the best agreement with the WMEI. These results demonstrate that a rapid and simple low-cost method predicted WMEI closely enough to avoid major weight uctuations among these men during the intervention period.

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