Associations of whole blood polyunsaturated fatty acids and insulin resistance among European children and adolescents

This study aims to examine the association of whole blood n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) with insulin resistance (IR) in children. Whole blood fatty acids were measured in 705 children aged 2–9 years of the European IDEFICS/I.Family cohort using gas chromatography in units of weight percentage of all detected fatty acids (%wt/wt). IR was determined by the Homeostasis Model Assessment for IR (HOMA). Mixed effect models were used to assess the associations between selected baseline PUFA and HOMA z-scores at baseline and after 2- and 6-year follow-ups using models with basic and additional confounder adjustment as well as stratified by sex and weight status. In the basic model, α-linolenic (β = 1.46 SD/%wt/wt, p = 0.006) and eicosapentaenoic acid (β = 1.17 SD/%wt/wt, p = 0.001) were positively associated with baseline HOMA z-score. In the stratified analyses, α-linolenic acid was positively associated with HOMA z-score in girls only (β = 1.98 SD/%wt/wt, p = 0.006) and arachidonic acid was inversely associated with baseline HOMA in thin/normal-weight children (β = − 0.13 SD/%wt/wt, p = 0.0063). In the fully adjusted model, no statistically significant associations were seen. Conclusions: Our overall results do not indicate a protective role of higher blood n-3 PUFA or an adverse role of higher blood arachidonic acid proportion on the risk of IR. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00431-020-03636-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.