ABSTRACT
In this study we analyzed the erythrocyte fatty acid (FA) composition in Mexican children, from 4 to 21 months old with advanced protein-calorie malnutrition. We tried to establish if there were differences in the erythrocyte FA composition of these subjects in comparison with normal children of the same age. The major FA found in children with protein-calorie malnutrition and their controls were (in percentage): stearic (30.6 +/- 5.4 vs 34.8 +/- 2.5), palmitic (22.7 +/- 3.1 vs 25.8 +/- 2.5), oleic (15.9 +/- 3.8 vs 13.1 +/- 3.0), arachidonic (14.8 +/- 4.4 vs 14.1 +/- 4.1), decosatetraenoic (2.4 +/- 2.0 vs 3.7 +/- 2.1) and docosapentaenoic (3.9 +/- 2.2 vs 2.8 +/- 1.7), respectively. There were no intergroup statistical differences in the individual FA between the undernourished and control groups. Saturated FA were 53.2 +/- 6.8% vs 60.6 +/- 7.2%, monounsaturated FA 17.0 +/- 4.1% vs 13.7 +/- 3.0% and polyunsaturated FA 23.7 +/- 5.5% vs 21.1 +/- 4.8% for undernourished and control groups, respectively. Long-chain unsaturated FA values presented the highest variation in both groups, i.e. the unsaturated/saturated FA ratio was 0.76 +/- 0.2 for the undernourished and 0.53 +/- 0.2 for the control group (p < 0.05). Thus, the higher unsaturated/saturated FA ratio in the undernourished was the only change in erythrocyte FA composition observed.
