TY - JOUR
T1 - Whole blood levels of the n-6 essential fatty acid linoleic acid are inversely associated with stunting in 2-to-6 year old Tanzanian children
T2 - A cross-sectional study
AU - Jumbe, Theresia
AU - Comstock, Sarah S.
AU - Hahn, Samantha L.
AU - Harris, William S.
AU - Kinabo, Joyce
AU - Fenton, Jenifer I.
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to Mariana Ngowi for her assistance during data collection and to Peter Mamiro for advice and assistance with data analysis. This work was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Innovative Agricultural Research Initiative project (iAGRI) (Award No. CA-621-A-00-11-00009-00). The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Agency for International Development or the United States Government. No authors report a conflict of interest except WSH who is founder and owner of OmegaQuant Analytics, LLC. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Jumbe et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2016/5/1
Y1 - 2016/5/1
N2 - Background: In Tanzania, 35% of all children below five years of age are stunted. Dietary fatty acids (FA) are critical for growth and development. However, whole blood FA levels in Tanzanian children are poorly described. Objective: The objectives of this cross-sectional study were to assess 1) whole blood levels of essential fatty acids and 2) the association between whole blood FA levels and growth parameters in Tanzanian children 2-6 years of age. Methods: A drop of blood was collected on an antioxidant treated card and analyzed for FA composition. Weight and height were measured and z-scores calculated. Relationships between FAs and growth parameters were analyzed by linear regression. Results: Of the 334 children that participated, 30.3% were stunted. The average whole blood level of Mead acid was 0.15%. The anthropometric z-score height-for-age (HAZ) was inversely associated with Mead acid, the Mead acid to arachidonic acid (T/T) ratio, and total n-9 FA. Additionally, HAZ was positively associated with linoleic acid and total n-6 FA. BMI-for-age was positively associated with oleic acid, total n-9 FA and T/T ratio but inversely associated with arachidonic acid and total n-6 FA. Weight-for-height was inversely associated with arachidonic acid and total n-6 FAs and positively associated with oleic acid and total n-9 FA. Weight-for-age was not associated with any FA tested. Total n-3 FAs were not associated with any growth parameters measured. Conclusions: The EFA linoleic acid and the markers of FA deficiency were associated with HAZ, an indicator for stunting in 2-6 year old Tanzanian children. Total n-6, total n-9, and a number of individual FAs were associated with growth. Increasing dietary intake of EFA and n-6 FAs may be a strategy to combat stunting in this population.
AB - Background: In Tanzania, 35% of all children below five years of age are stunted. Dietary fatty acids (FA) are critical for growth and development. However, whole blood FA levels in Tanzanian children are poorly described. Objective: The objectives of this cross-sectional study were to assess 1) whole blood levels of essential fatty acids and 2) the association between whole blood FA levels and growth parameters in Tanzanian children 2-6 years of age. Methods: A drop of blood was collected on an antioxidant treated card and analyzed for FA composition. Weight and height were measured and z-scores calculated. Relationships between FAs and growth parameters were analyzed by linear regression. Results: Of the 334 children that participated, 30.3% were stunted. The average whole blood level of Mead acid was 0.15%. The anthropometric z-score height-for-age (HAZ) was inversely associated with Mead acid, the Mead acid to arachidonic acid (T/T) ratio, and total n-9 FA. Additionally, HAZ was positively associated with linoleic acid and total n-6 FA. BMI-for-age was positively associated with oleic acid, total n-9 FA and T/T ratio but inversely associated with arachidonic acid and total n-6 FA. Weight-for-height was inversely associated with arachidonic acid and total n-6 FAs and positively associated with oleic acid and total n-9 FA. Weight-for-age was not associated with any FA tested. Total n-3 FAs were not associated with any growth parameters measured. Conclusions: The EFA linoleic acid and the markers of FA deficiency were associated with HAZ, an indicator for stunting in 2-6 year old Tanzanian children. Total n-6, total n-9, and a number of individual FAs were associated with growth. Increasing dietary intake of EFA and n-6 FAs may be a strategy to combat stunting in this population.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0154715
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0154715
M3 - Article
C2 - 27137223
AN - SCOPUS:84969545608
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 11
JO - PloS one
JF - PloS one
IS - 5
M1 - e0154715
ER -