2019 Volume 89 Issue 5 Pages 108-114
Aims: We aimed to clarify the relationship between maternal glucose metabolism and profiles of fatty acids.
Methods: We studied 102 Japanese women with singleton pregnancies. An oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed at 26.6±4.0 gestational weeks. The serum levels of triglycerides, total cholesterol, high- and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, free fatty acid and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) were measured in fasting blood samples. Fish intake was ascertained by a food-related questionnaire.
Results: OGTTs revealed that 14 subjects had gestational diabetes mellitus and 88 subjects had normal glucose tolerance. There was no significant difference in terms of age, body mass index before pregnancy, body weight gain from pre-pregnancy to the time of the OGTT, lipid levels, or frequency of fish consumption between the two groups. We found a positive correlation between fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and serum C-peptide levels and a negative correlation between FPG and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) levels. FPG levels did not correlate with the frequency of fish consumption or eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) levels. Multiple regression analysis showed that C-peptide (B = 1.415, p = 0.009) and DHA (B = −0.045, p = 0.003) levels independently related with FPG levels and free fatty acids levels (B = 0.054, p = 0.001) and fish consumption (B = 4.437, p = 0.034) independently related with 1 hour glucose levels.
Conclusions: FPG levels were negatively related with DHA levels, while there was no relationship between FPG levels and EPA levels, suggesting that these n-3 fatty acids are involved with plasma glucose levels via distinct mechanisms in pregnant women.
