Serum fatty acids and risk of advanced β-cell autoimmunity: a nested case-control study among children with HLA-conferred susceptibility to type I diabetes

Background/Objectives: N-3 (omega-3) fatty acids have been reported to decrease the risk for development of beta-cell autoimmunity and clinical type I diabetes. We set out to examine whether different serum fatty acids are associated with the development of advanced beta-cell autoimmunity in children carrying human leukocyte antigen DQ beta-1 (HLA-DQB1)-conferred susceptibility to type I diabetes. Subjects/Methods: Within a cohort, serum total fatty acid composition of 108 children with advanced b-cell autoimmunity and of 216 matched persistently autoantibody-negative controls was analyzed using gas chromatography. Non-fasting serum samples were obtained annually at the ages of 1-6 years. Conditional logistic regression was applied to analyze the associations between advanced b-cell autoimmunity and serum fatty acids. Results: The serum fatty acid profile of myristic acid (odds ratio (OR) 1.48, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.09-2.00, P = 0.011), pentadecanoic acid (OR 1.65, 95% CI 1.19-2.28, P = 0.003), palmitoleic acid isomers 16: 1 n-7 (omega-7) (OR 1.41, 95% CI 1.03-1.92, P = 0.030) and 16:1 n-9 (omega-9) (OR 1.45, 95% CI 1.05-2.01, P = 0.026) and conjugated linoleic acid (OR 1.67, 95% CI 1.16-2.41, P = 0.006) closest to the time of the appearance of multiple autoantibodies were positively associated with the risk of advanced b-cell autoimmunity after adjustment for potential confounding factors. Serum linoleic acid showed inverse, marginal association with the end point. Conclusions: Serum biomarkers of milk and ruminant meat fat consumption are directly associated and linoleic acid is inversely associated with advanced beta-cell autoimmunity in children with HLA-conferred susceptibility to type I diabetes. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2010) 64, 792-799; doi: 10.1038/ejcn.2010.75; published online 26 May 2010