Table 3.
Comparison of the fatty acid composition (per cent of total fatty acids) in serum phospholipids between the Mediterranean Diet (MD) group and the Control Diet (CD) group.
| MD group (n = 26) | CD group (n = 25) | P-value* | |||||
| Time (weeks after dietary shift) | Time (weeks after start of study) | ||||||
| 0 | 3 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 12 | ||
| 16:0 | 28.3 (23.6–31.0) | 29.0 (24.6–32.2) | 27.8 (25.3–31.3) | 28.9 (27.2–31.7) | 29.4 (27.1–32.3) | 29.8 (26.6–32.1) | 0.797 |
| 18:0 | 14.5 (13.1–15.2) | 13.7 (12.2–15.3) | 13.7 (12.4–15.7) | 15.0 (13.2–17.1) | 14.6 (13.3–16.5) | 15.0 (13.3–17.0) | 0.584 |
| 20:0 | 0.0 (0.0–0.1) | 0.0 (0.0–0.2) | 0.0 (0.0–0.3)† | 0.0 (0.0–0.2) | 0.0 (0.0–0.2) | 0.0 (0.0–0.2) | 0.100 |
| 24:0 | 1.4 (1.0–2.2) | 1.4 (1.0–1.9) | 1.6 (1.1–2.0) | 1.4 (1.0–1.6) | 1.1 (0.8–1.7) | 1.3 (0.8–1.8) | 0.959 |
| Total saturated fatty acids | 44.0 (39.1–46.8) | 44.7 (37.8–48.3) | 43.9 (39.6–49.4) | 45.6 (41.4–49.9) | 45.6 (41.1–49.1) | 46.0 (42.7–49.9) | 0.705 |
| 16:1n-7 | 0.8 (0.6–0.9) | 0.7 (0.6–0.8) | 0.8 (0.6–0.9) | 0.7 (0.6–1.1) | 0.8 (0.6–0.9) | 0.8 (0.6–1.0) | 0.339 |
| 18:1n-7 | 1.7 (1.3–1.8) | 2.0 (1.4–2.2) | 1.8 (1.6–2.0) | 1.7 (1.3–1.9) | 1.7 (1.5–2.1) | 1.8 (1.5–2.0) | 0.557 |
| 18:1n-9 | 9.9 (8.2–10.9) | 9.7 (8.3–11.2) | 9.4 (7.3–10.6) | 10.2 (8.3–11.1) | 10.6 (8.9–11.5) | 10.9 (8.3–11.5) | 0.087 |
| 22:1n-11 | 0.6 (0.2–1.6) | 0.6 (0.2–1.5) | 0.8 (0.8–1.8) | 0.6 (0.0–1.3) | 0.3 (0.0–1.0) | 0.6 (0.0–1.1) | 0.356 |
| Total monounsaturated fatty acids | 13.1 (11.4–13.8) | 12.8 (11.2–14.6) | 12.6 (11.3–13.8) | 13.3 (11.8–14.4) | 13.6 (11.6–14.7) | 13.9 (11.4–15.0) | 0.207 |
| 18:2n-6 | 16.7 (11.5–19.9) | 16.5 (10.7–18.6) | 14.4 (11.0–16.9) | 16.0 (12.5–19.2) | 16.7 (12.8–18.1) | 17.0 (13.5–19.5) | 0.044 |
| 20:2n-6 | 0.4 (0.2–0.7) | 0.3 (0.2–0.5) | 0.4 (0.2–0.6) | 0.3 (0.2–0.5) | 0.3 (0.2–0.5) | 0.4 (0.3–0.6) | 0.458 |
| 20:3n-6 | 2.6 (1.8–3.2) | 2.5 (1.7–3.0) | 2.2 (1.6–2.6)‡ | 2.1 (1.5–3.1) | 2.2 (1.7–2.8) | 2.4 (1.8–3.1) | 0.003 |
| 20:4n-6 | 6.9 (5.0–7.7) | 6.8 (4.8–8.2) | 6.6 (4.1–8.0) | 5.9 (4.1–9.8) | 6.6 (4.2–8.5) | 6.5 (4.8–8.7) | 0.144 |
| Total n-6 fatty acids | 25.2 (18.9–30.7) | 26.8 (17.5–30.0) | 23.8 (17.6–28.3)† | 24.4 (18.4–32.2) | 25.1 (19.3–29.9) | 25.2 (21.5–30.5) | 0.008 |
| 18:3n-3 | 0.3 (0.0–0.4) | 0.2 (0.0–0.4) | 0.4 (0.0–0.4) | 0.3 (0.2–0.4) | 0.3 (0.1–0.5) | 0.3 (0.0–0.5) | 0.395 |
| 20:5n-3 | 1.4 (1.1–1.8) | 1.8 (1.1–2.8) | 2.1 (1.4–3.3)§ | 1.1 (1.0–1.5) | 1.1 (1.0–1.7) | 1.1 (0.9–1.4) | <0.001 |
| 22:5n-3 | 0.7 (0.2–1.7) | 0.6 (0.2–1.4) | 0.8 (0.2–1.7) | 0.5 (0.2–1.3) | 0.6 (0.2–1.0) | 0.6 (0.3–1.0) | 0.395 |
| 22:6n-3 | 3.9 (2.2–4.8) | 4.2 (3.1–6.6) | 5.0 (2.5–7.2)§ | 3.0 (1.5–4.3) | 3.5 (1.7–4.2) | 3.0 (2.2–4.5) | <0.001 |
| Total n-3 fatty acids | 6.1 (5.2–7.4) | 7.3 (5.3–10.0) | 8.6 (6.0–11.7)§ | 5.2 (4.3–7.0) | 4.9 (3.7–6.4) | 5.2 (3.8–7.0) | 0.001 |
| n-6:n-3 ratio | 4.2 (3.0–5.6) | 3.1 (2.7–3.7) | 2.5 (2.1–3.5)‡ | 4.6 (3.6–5.6) | 4.4 (3.4–5.6) | 4.9 (4.1–5.6) | 0.002 |
| Total polyunsaturated fatty acids | 32.7 (25.9–38.4) | 33.5 (24.4–40.1) | 32.4 (22.7–39.0) | 29.3 (22.3–37.5) | 31.0 (24.0–36.6) | 30.9 (25.7–37.4) | 0.072 |
Data are presented as medians (25th–75th percentiles). *The p-values refer to differences between the MD- and the CD group concerning the change from baseline to week 12. Differences between the groups were analyzed with the Mann-Whitney U test. Statistically significant change from baseline to week 12: †p < 0.05, ‡p < 0.01, §p < 0.001. Within-group differences in week 12 compared to baseline were evaluated by the Wilcoxon signed ranks test.