Journal Name:
Diabetes Care
Article Title:
Relationship of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Intake to Peripheral Neuropathy Among Adults With Diabetes in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999–2004
Date Written:
2008
Volume:
31
Number:
1
Page:
93
Author(s):
Tao, M.; Saydah, S.H.; McDowell, M.A.; Eberhardt, M.S.
Article:
The prevalence of peripheral neuropathy is 28.5% among adults aged associated with measured peripheral greater than 40 years with diabetes in the U.S. population. Besides improving glycemic control, few available therapeutic choices for peripheral neuropathy are available. This study investigated the association between dietary intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and peripheral neuropathy in the U.S. population. Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999–2004 for 1,062 adults greater than 40 years of age with diagnosed diabetes, an assessment of peripheral neuropathy, and reliable 24-h dietary recall were anayzed. The dietary intake of PUFAs was analyzed by peripheral neuropathy status. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds of having peripheral neuropathy in higher quintiles of PUFA intake compared with the lowest quintile.
Only 4.04% of adults reported taking supplements containing PUFAs. The association between taking containing PUFAs and the risk of peripheral neuropathy was not estimated because of small sample size. Inclusion of supplement usage in regression models did not affect the association between dietary PUFA intake and peripheral neuropathy. The mean dietary intake of alpha - linolenic acid (ALA) was 1.25 ± 0.07 g among adults with peripheral neuropathy, significantly lower than the 1.45 ± 0.05 g intake among those without peripheral neuropathy. After controlling for potential confounding variables, adults whose ALA intake was in the highest quintile had lower odds of peripheral neuropathy than adults in the lowest quintile. This is one of the first studies to explore whether high dietary PUFA intake is associated with lower risk of peripheral neuropathy. As the major form of C18:3 in food is ALA and from the diet canola and flax oils, it is reasonable to expect that the negative association between C18:3 and peripheral neuropathy in this study is due to ALA. Identification of prevention methods for peripheral neuropathy can help reduce the prevalence of peripheral neuropathy and its complications. More work is needed to study the association between ALA and peripheral neuropathy reported here and to clarify the biological mechanisms.
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