Volume 89, Issue 5, May (2003), pp. 739-740 © The Author 2003
doi:10.1079/BJN2003851

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Letter to the Editors

Higher erythrocyte 22 : 6n-3 and 22 : 5n-6, and lower 22 : 5n-3 suggest higher Δ-4-desaturation capacity in women of childbearing age

Ella N. Smit^1,*, M. Rebecca Fokkema¹, E. Rudy Boersma² and Frits A. J. Muskiet^1
1Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, CMC-V, Y1.147, Groningen University Hospital, PO Box 30.001, 9700 RB Groningen, The Netherlands
²Retired Professor of Paediatrics,Groningen University Hospital, The Netherlands

Based on carefully executed labelling studies, Burdge & Wootton (2002) suggested that 28±4-year-old women possess a greater capacity for α-linolenic acid (18:3n-3) conversion to its long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid analogues than 24–40-year-old men. Over 21 d, fractional excursions of labelled fatty acids in total plasma lipids of women and men were 63·7 and 84·0 % for 18:3n-3, 21·1 and 7·9 % for eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3), 5·9 and 8·1 % for docosapentaenoic acid (22:5n-3), and 9·2 and 0 % for docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3), respectively (Burdge & Wootton, 2002; Burdge et al. 2002). To our knowledge this is the first report to observe gender differences in conversion efficiency of specific fatty acids. The only previously reported sex difference in fatty acid status in human subjects has been the higher average total unsaturation in males compared with females (Holman et al. 1979). Animal, mainly rat, studies observed differences in the relative activities of Δ-6-desaturase activity (Horrobin, 1981) and a greater requirement for essential fatty acids in males (Horrobin, 1995).