The Dietary Total-Fat Content Affects the In Vivo Circulating C15:0 and C17:0 Fatty Acid Levels Independently

Pentadecanoic acid (C15:0) and heptadecanoic acid (C17:0) have been described as dietary biomarkers of dairy-fat consumption, with varying degrees of reliability between studies. It remains unclear how the total amount of dietary fat, representing one of the main confounding factors in these biomarker investigations, affects C15:0 and C17:0 circulating concentrations independent of their relative intake. Additionally, it is not clear how changes in the dietary total-fat affects other fatty acids in circulation. Through two dietary studies with different total-fat levels but maintaining identical fatty acid compositions, we were able to see how the dietary total-fat affects the fatty acids in circulation. We saw that there was a statistically significant, proportionate, and robust decrease in the endogenous C15:0 levels with an increase in dietary total-fat. However, there was no significant change in the circulating C17:0 concentrations as the total-fat increased. To conclude, the dietary total-fat content and fat-type have a very complex influence on the relative compositions of circulating fatty acids, which are independent of the actual dietary fatty acid composition. Knowing how to manipulate circulating C15:0 and C17:0 concentrations is far-reaching in nutritional/pathological research as they highlight a dietary route to attenuate the development of metabolic disease (both by reducing risk and improving prognosis).