Grant: Project Grant

Tremendous research has focused on understanding the relationship between fatty acids and health. In particular, our team has been funded by CIHR to develop Canadian fatty acid reference ranges. This is important because the interpretability of human studies remains poor due to the lack of clinical reference values. While measurements of lipids such as cholesterol and triglycerides are commonly performed in the doctor's office, no such tests are available for individual fatty acids, such as omega-3 fatty acids. Establishing reference ranges for individual fatty acids would make it possible to establish healthy targets and limits associated with deficiency or increased chronic disease risk. We are currently measuring fatty acids from the Canadian Health Measures Survey, a nationally representative cohort. A potential limitation is the generalizability of the findings to other countries with different lifestyles and diet. Thus, the current project is to measure plasma fatty acids globally from Australia, Singapore and Europe, with distinct dietary and lifestyles relative to Canada. These findings will provide important insight to determine whether all or some Canadian values for individual fatty acids approximate global values. This work is important towards establishing relevant fatty acid reference ranges that can be used internationally.