The effect of a polyunsaturated diet upon adipose-tissue fatty acids in young coronary males. A five-year cohort study.

The fatty acid composition in the adipose tissue of 38 electrocardiographycally confirmed coronary males, mean age 43.7 years, at ideal weight on a 30%-of-calories controlled-fat diet, containing approximately 11.4% of calories as linoleic acid, was studied. The initial linoleic acid concentration in the adipose tissue was approximately 11 mole % of total fatty acids; for approximately the first 12 months it rose slightly and then rapidly increased to about 20% after 24 months. The overall response is sigmoidal in form and fits the equation: 1/y=0.025+0.066 (0.975)(x) in which y represents the adipose tissue linoleate as mole percentage of total adipose tissue fatty acids and x is the time in months.The relative increase in linoleic acid is not attributable to a decrease in any specific fatty acid.