Plasma trans-fatty acid concentrations in fasting adults declined from NHANES 1999–2000 to 2009–2010

• Published in: The American journal of clinical nutrition Vol. 105; no. 5; pp. 1063 - 1069
• Main Authors: Vesper, Hubert W, Caudill, Samuel P, Kuiper, Heather C, Yang, Quanhe, Ahluwalia, Namanjeet, Lacher, David A, Pirkle, James L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc 01.05.2017
• Subjects: Adult; Adults; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; blood; Cardiovascular diseases; Chromatography; Demographics; Diet; Dietary Fats - blood; elaidic acid; Fasting; Fatty acids; Feeding Behavior; Female; Food additives; Food intake; Gas chromatography; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; geometry; Health risks; Humans; Hydrogenation; Male; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Middle Aged; Minority & ethnic groups; National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; nationalities and ethnic groups; Nutrition Surveys; Nutritional Status; Plasma; Plasmas (physics); Public health; Risk Factors; Subgroups; Trans fatty acids; Trans Fatty Acids - blood; United States; vaccenic acid; Young Adult; United States > US; United States; cardiovascular disease; mass spectrometry; NHANES; trans-fatty acids; gas chromatography
• ISSN: 0002-9165; 1938-3207; 1938-3207
• DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.116.141622

The consumption of fatty acids (TFAs) is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, and reducing their consumption is a major public health objective. Food intake studies have provided estimates for TFA concentrations in the US population; however, there is a need for data on TFA blood concentrations in the population. The objective of this study was to determine plasma TFA concentrations in a nationally representative group of fasted adults in the US population in NHANES samples from 1999-2000 and 2009-2010. Four major TFAs [palmitelaidic acid (C16:1n-7t), vaccenic acid (C18:1n-7t), elaidic acid (C18:1n-9t), and linoelaidic acid (C18:2n-6t,9t)] were measured in plasma in 1613 subjects from NHANES 1999-2000 and 2462 subjects from NHANES 2009-2010 by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Geometric means and distribution percentiles were calculated for each TFA and their sum by age, sex, and race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, Mexican American), and covariate-adjusted geometric means were computed by using a model that included these demographic and other dietary factors, as well as survey year and any significant interaction terms. These nationally representative data for the adult US population show that TFA concentrations were 54% lower in NHANES 2009-2010 than in NHANES 1999-2000. Covariate-adjusted geometric means for the sum of the 4 TFAs were 81.4 μmol/L (95% CI: 77.3, 85.6 μmol/L) and 37.8 μmol/L (95% CI: 36.4, 39.4 μmol/L) in NHANES 1999-2000 and 2009-2010, respectively. Even with the large decline in TFA concentrations, differences between demographic subgroups were comparable in the 2 surveys. The results indicate an overall reduction in TFA concentrations in the US population and provide a valuable baseline to evaluate the impact of the recent regulation categorizing TFAs as food additives.