Natural Rumen‐Derived trans Fatty Acids Are Associated with Metabolic Markers of Cardiac Health

Abstract

Evidence suggests that industrial trans fatty acids (iTFA) impair lipid profiles while ruminant trans fatty acids (rTFA) may lower insulin resistance and blood pressure. The objective of this article was to determine if the plasma phospholipid percentage of rTFA is associated with a favorable cardiometabolic profile. We collected fasting blood samples from 200 individuals from Quebec city (QC, Canada) aged from 18 to 55 years old, including 100 obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg m(-2)) and 100 non-obese (BMI < 30 kg m(-2)) men and women. Fatty acid levels in plasma phospholipids were determined using gas chromatography. After separating the subjects into two groups, according to the median percentage of rTFA in plasma phospholipids, participants in the group with higher percentages of rTFA (0.86 ± 0.24 %) had higher adiponectin levels (p = 0.01) and a lower blood pressure (systolic, p = 0.005; diastolic, p = 0.04). In contrast, concentrations in plasma phospholipids of elaidic acid, a major iTFA, are positively correlated with glycemia in non-obese subjects (p = 0.01) and with both triacylglycerol (TAG) (p = 0.0007) and total cholesterol (TC) (p = 0.009) in obese subjects. These data suggest that rTFA may have beneficial effects on cardiometabolic risk factors conversely to their counterpart iTFA. Dietary sources of TFA should be taken into account in future cardiometabolic studies.

Trans Fatty Acids Suppress TNF‐α‐Induced Inflammatory Gene Expression in Endothelial (HUVEC) and Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HepG2) Cells

“…Our results indicate that TFA are highly incorporated into cells following treatment, almost 100 times higher than what can be measured in human plasma phospholipids [27]. The incorporation of TFA in HUVEC was around 15-20% in HUVEC and 3-8% in HepG2 cells.…”

“…Fatty acids were then methylated following a transesterification reaction using a mix of methanol/benzene (4:1 by vol) and acetyl chloride at 95 °C for 1.5 h [26], and analyzed by capillary gas chromatography as described previously [27]. Fatty acid profiles were expressed as the relative percentage areas of total fatty acids.…”

Chemical Synthesis and Isolation of Trans‐Palmitoleic Acid (Trans‐C16:1 n‐7) Suitable for Nutritional Studies

“…[ 2 ] Interestingly, many epidemiological studies associated high circulating levels of TPA in humans with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. [ 3–10 ] Undoubtedly, these epidemiological findings had considerable impact, making TPA an intriguing dietary fatty acid of high nutritional interest. However, supplementation studies are still lacking to unravel accurate mechanisms of action of dietary TPA.…”

“…First, using dairy products as a raw material may be useful but TPA only accounts for 0.04% of total fatty acids in dairy fat. [ 2–12 ] Besides, dairy fat contains other natural trans fatty acids such as trans ‐vaccenic acid ( trans ‐11 C18:1, or trans ‐C18:1 n‐7, TVA) and rumenic acid ( cis ‐9, trans ‐11 C18:2) for which benefits have been reported. [ 13 ] Thus, neither conventional dairy fat nor butter enriched in natural trans fatty acids [ 14 ] is convenient.…”

Association between trans fatty acid intake and overweight including obesity in 4 to 5‐year‐old children from the INMA study

“…Industrial TFA are artificially produced by partial hydrogenation of unsaturated vegetable oils during heating or deep fat frying, whereas natural TFA are present in meat or dairy products from ruminant animals where small amounts of TFA are produced by microorganisms in the rumen . There is growing evidence that the intake of TFA of industrial or natural origin may have different effects . In adults, it is generally accepted that industrial TFA intake is associated with visceral adiposity and higher cardiovascular risk .…”