Table 4.

Change in Fatty Acid Levels Among Study Participants, by Diet Group

	Mediterranean diet (n=53)				MyPyramid diet (n=49)
	Baseline	4 months	Change	Pa	Baseline	4 months	Change	Pa	Pb	Pc
Oleic acid	17.9 (1.86)d	17.7 (1.86)	−0.22 (2.05)	0.444	17.8 (1.79)	18.2 (2.33)	0.45 (2.07)	0.130	0.101	0.105
Linoleic acid	33.5 (3.49)	35.0 (3.44)	1.44 (2.94)	0.001	34.2 (3.49)	34.1 (3.61)	−0.13 (2.71)	0.746	0.006	0.012
Linolenic acid	0.67 (0.20)	0.85 (0.28)	0.18 (0.30)	<0.001	0.64 (0.18)	0.68 (0.21)	0.04 (0.26)	0.261	0.014	0.001
n3	3.38 (0.99)	3.67 (1.35)	0.29 (0.82)	0.013	3.30 (0.80)	3.18 (0.78)	−0.13 (0.78)	0.261	0.010	0.008
n6	45.0 (3.01)	45.8 (3.07)	0.75 (2.75)	0.051	45.4 (2.81)	45.7 (3.07)	0.23 (2.58)	0.542	0.319	0.443
n3/n6 ratio	0.08 (0.02)	0.08 (0.03)	0.01 (0.02)	0.035	0.07 (0.02)	0.07 (0.02)	−0.00 (0.02)	0.168	0.015	0.015
n6/n3 ratio	14.2 (3.44)	13.4 (3.05)	−0.79 (2.59)	0.032	14.7 (4.61)	15.2 (4.19)	0.55 (2.99)	0.201	0.457	0.404

^aPaired t test for within-group change between baseline and 4 months.

^bTwo-sample t test for unadjusted between-group change.

^cWald statistic from linear regression model for between-group change, adjusted for baseline weight and fatty acid level.

^dMean (SD).