ABSTRACT
To evaluate the pattern of plasma free fatty acids [FFA] in ischemic heart diseases, we compared patients who had suffered a myocardial infarction with age matched control subjects free from clinically apparent ischemic heart diseases. We found significant low levels of serum palmitic. stearic. oleic, linoleic and linolenic acids in acute myocardial infarction [AMI] group as compared with healthy control one. Whereas no significant difference was found between chronic myocardial ischemia [CMI] and acute myocardial ischemia [AMI] groups On the other h and, there was significant low levels of palmitic, stearic and oleic acids in CMI group as compared to healthy control one. The positive ecological correlations between national intakes of total fat and saturated fatty acids and cardiovascular mortality found in earlier studies were questionable or absent in our recent study