Nutrients 2011, 3(1), 152-163; doi:10.3390/nu3010152
Article

Serum Fatty Acid Reference Ranges: Percentiles from a New Zealand National Nutrition Survey

Kathryn E. Bradbury 1 email, Clark Murray Skeaff 1,* email, Francesca L. Crowe 2 email, Timothy J. Green 3 email and Leanne Hodson 4 email
1 Department of Human Nutrition, University of Otago, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand 2 Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK 3 Faculty of Land and Food Systems, the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada 4 Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolism, Churchill Hospital, Oxford OX3 7lJ, UK
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 26 November 2010; in revised form: 29 December 2010 / Accepted: 4 January 2011 / Published: 20 January 2011
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutritional Epidemiology)
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Abstract: Serum fatty acids are increasingly used in cross-sectional surveys and cohort studies as biomarkers of dietary fat intake; however, it is currently difficult to judge whether an individual has low or high fatty acid status, or whether the distribution of fatty acids of a group of people is low or high due to a lack of appropriate reference values. In the absence of interpretive criteria, the distribution of serum fatty acids from a suitable reference population can be used as an alternative. We describe the distribution of the fatty acid composition of the three most commonly reported lipid classes in serum; cholesterol ester, phospholipid and triacylgycerol. Results for each serum lipid class are presented as means (SD) and percentiles (5, 10, 25, 50, 75, 90, and 95) of serum fatty acids in non-fasting blood samples collected from a population based cross-sectional survey of New Zealand adults (n = 2793). These serum fatty acid reference ranges are applicable and relevant to Australia, United Kingdom, and United States as well as other countries where fat intakes are similar to New Zealand.
Keywords: serum fatty acids; nutrition surveys; reference ranges; biomarkers

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MDPI and ACS Style

Bradbury, K.E.; Skeaff, C.M.; Crowe, F.L.; Green, T.J.; Hodson, L. Serum Fatty Acid Reference Ranges: Percentiles from a New Zealand National Nutrition Survey. Nutrients 2011, 3, 152-163.

AMA Style

Bradbury KE, Skeaff CM, Crowe FL, Green TJ, Hodson L. Serum Fatty Acid Reference Ranges: Percentiles from a New Zealand National Nutrition Survey. Nutrients. 2011; 3(1):152-163.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Bradbury, Kathryn E.; Skeaff, Clark Murray; Crowe, Francesca L.; Green, Timothy J.; Hodson, Leanne. 2011. "Serum Fatty Acid Reference Ranges: Percentiles from a New Zealand National Nutrition Survey." Nutrients 3, no. 1: 152-163.

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