Table 5. Fatty acid composition of serum PL according to quintiles defined by fatty acid intake estimated by FFQ at early and late pregnancy.

Fatty acids intake (% of TFA)	Level in quintiles on the basis of fatty acid intake estimated by FFQ (mean (SD)										Q1 vs Q5a	P for trend
	Q1		Q2		Q3		Q4		Q5
Early pregnancy	(n = 37)		(n = 37)		(n = 38)		(n = 37)		(n = 37)
n-3 PUFA	5.94	(1.22)	6.07	(0.95)	6.45	(1.37)	6.36	(1.30)	7.19	(1.73)	0.001	<0.0001
α-linolenic acid	0.68	(0.21)	0.73	(0.19)	0.77	(0.29)	0.78	(0.24)	0.84	(0.28)	0.055	0.005
EPA	0.71	(0.45)	0.86	(0.47)	0.88	(0.50)	1.10	(0.75)	1.45	(0.72)	<0.0001	<0.0001
DHA	4.14	(0.81)	4.26	(0.74)	4.76	(0.80)	4.47	(0.78)	5.26	(1.00)	<0.0001	<0.0001
n-6 PUFA	37.09	(2.66)	37.67	(3.11)	38.53	(2.99)	37.99	(2.53)	39.06	(2.83)	0.026	0.004
Linoleic acid	27.25	(3.03)	28.29	(2.87)	28.99	(3.33)	28.35	(2.57)	29.49	(3.00)	0.012	0.004
Arachidonic acid	6.55	(1.23)	6.93	(1.33)	6.78	(1.14)	7.02	(1.26)	7.19	(1.32)	0.195	0.039
Late pregnancy	(n = 30)		(n = 31)		(n = 31)		(n = 31)		(n = 30)
n-3 PUFA	5.68	(1.40)	5.78	(1.73)	6.33	(1.13)	6.17	(1.51)	7.02	(1.59)	0.006	<0.001
α-linolenic acid	0.86	(0.17)	0.89	(0.25)	0.84	(0.14)	0.89	(0.24)	0.95	(0.23)	0.538	0.192
EPA	0.69	(0.41)	0.73	(0.37)	0.86	(0.48)	1.14	(0.78)	1.22	(0.92)	0.012	<0.0001
DHA	3.92	(0.88)	3.90	(0.81)	4.40	(1.02)	4.73	(1.18)	4.63	(1.01)	0.044	<0.001
n-6 PUFA	37.05	(2.90)	34.68	(4.23)	36.46	(2.99)	36.25	(2.91)	35.93	(2.71)	0.655	0.718
Linoleic acid	28.72	(3.10)	26.88	(3.59)	28.65	(2.74)	28.23	(2.98)	27.75	(2.94)	0.741	0.737
Arachidonic acid	5.11	(0.81)	5.60	(1.06)	5.39	(1.02)	5.77	(0.95)	5.43	(1.09)	0.709	0.150

FFQ, food frequency questionnaire; n-3 PUFA, n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids; n-6 PUFA, n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids; PL, phospholipids; TFA, total fatty acids.

^aTukey-Kramer analysis.