Biomarkers of dietary fat composition in young adults with a parental history of premature coronary heart disease compared with controls. The EARS Study.

The European Atherosclerosis Research Study (EARS) is a study of the biological expression of a paternal history of premature coronary heart disease. The study was carried out in 14 centres in 11 European countries, where the offspring of fathers who suffered a documented myocardial infarction before the age of 55 years (cases) were compared with age- and sex-matched controls. In this paper we describe the measurement of plasma cholesteryl esters as biomarkers for the fatty acid composition of the diet in the cases and controls. No significant differences were found. Cholesteryl palmitate, oleate, linoleate and arachidonate were measured in plasma and correlated with plasma lipids and lipoproteins and with life-style variables including body-mass index, alcohol consumption, tobacco and physical activity. The strongest correlations were observed between cholesteryl esters and triglycerides, which are positively correlated with cholesteryl oleate and negatively with cholesteryl linoleate. Apo B was negatively correlated with cholesteryl linoleate and positively with palmitate. Among the other variables, alcohol was positively correlated with cholesteryl oleate and negatively with linoleate, both in males and in females. Furthermore, there are differences between regions, with the highest percentages of saturated cholesteryl palmitate measured in Finnish students, the highest percentage of cholesteryl linoleate in Belgium and of cholesteryl arachidonate in Southern Europe.