Grant: Operating Grant

There is tremendous interest in understanding the relationship between blood levels of fatty acids and health. While different types of fats are commonly measured in the doctors office such as blood cholesterol and triglycerides, which are used as measures of health status, it is not yet feasible to evaluate individual fatty acids. Measurement of blood fatty acids is widely reported in research, however the interpretability of human studies remains poor due to the lack of clinically useful reference ranges. This significant gap underscores a major challenge in the translation of the basic science of fatty acid research into clinical practice. Reference ranges for individual fatty acids would make it possible to establish healthy targets and evaluate whether certain levels of fatty acids are associated with deficiency or increased chronic disease risk. Thus, the central gap that the proposed study will address is the development of fatty acid reference ranges in healthy adult Canadians.