Metabolic syndrome reversion by polyunsaturated fatty acids ingestion

Background and objective: Metabolic syndrome (MS) frequency is growing and diet has an important influence on its evolution. Our objective was to study the effect of 3 sources of polyunsaturated fatty acids on MS parameters in humans. Patients and method: The MS was diagnosed according to the International Diabetes Federation. Three groups of individuals (n = 15/group) were quasi-randomly assigned to one of the following treatments during 6 weeks: a) 1.8 g/d n-3 (1.08 g eicosapentoaenoic acid + 0.72 g docosahexaenoic acid); b) 2.0 g/d conjugated linoleic acid (CIA, 50:50, cis9:trans11, trans10:cis12), and c) 40 g/d walnut. The clinical and biochemical parameters were evaluated at the beginning and the end of the essay. Results: In the group with n-3 the triglycerides level decreased from 183.9 +/- 35.2 mg/dl to 149.6 +/- 29.0 mg/dl (P=.007). In the group with walnut the HDL level rose from 41.7 +/- 5.2 mg/dl to 47.8 +/- 5.4 mg/dl (P=.004) and the Castelli index (total cholesterol/HDL) decreased from 4.86 +/- 0.97 to 3.82 +/- 0.81 (P=.004). There were not significant changes in the CIA group. At the end of the essay, 46.7% of walnut group patients, 46.7% of n-3 group and 20% of CIA group, had no MS. Conclusions: The groups that consumed polyunsaturated fatty acids n-3 and those in walnut in moderate daily doses during 6 weeks had an improvement of the dyslipidemia component of MS, hypertriglyceridemia and low HDL level. (C) 2011 Elsevier Espana, S.L. All rights reserved.