Associations between dietary n-6 and n-3 fatty acids and arachidonic acid compositions in plasma and erythrocytes in young and elderly Japanese volunteers

Table 3 The mean and SEM of EPA+DHA and ARA intakes and ARA composition in erythrocyte PL among YM-G, YW-G, EM-G, and EW-G

		Dietary intakes (g/d)				Erythrocyte ARA compositions (% of total fatty acids)
		EPA+DHA		ARA		Crude		Adjusted ²		95% confidence limits ²
YM-G	Mean	0.27		0.15		12.8		12.1		11.6	12.6
	SEM	0.05		0.01		0.3		0.2
YW-G	Mean	0.41		0.14		12.4		12.0		11.7	12.4
	SEM	0.03		0.01		0.2		0.2
EM-G	Mean	0.90	^{a, b}	0.17	^c	9.8	^{a, b}	10.6	^{a, b}	10.1	11.0
	SEM	0.06		0.01		0.2		0.2
EW-G	Mean	0.75	^{a, b}	0.15		10.0	^{a, b}	10.3	^{a, b}	10.0	10.7
	SEM	0.06		0.01		0.2		0.2

Abbreviations: EPA, eicosapentaenoic acid; DHA, docosahexaenoic acid; ARA, arachidonic acid; PL, phospholipids; YM-G, young men group; YW-G, young women group; EM-G, elderly men group; EW-G, elderly women group.
¹Significant differences on one-way ANOVA, post ad hoc Bonferroni. ^a: different from YM-G, p < 0.001, ^b: different from YW-G, p < 0.001 ^c: different from YW-G, p < 0.05
² The mean and standard error of the mean (SEM) of adjusted erythrocyte ARA compositions were calculated based on the least squares method by the ANCOVA model. The covariate of this model was estimated from data in which EPA+DHA intake was 0.59 g/d.

ISSN: 1476-511X