Carbon Isotope Ratios of Plasma and RBC Fatty Acids Identify Meat Consumers in a 12-Week Inpatient Feeding Study of 32 Men

Molecular stable isotope ratios are a novel type of dietary biomarker with high sensitivity and specificity for certain foods. Among these, fatty acid carbon isotope ratios (CIRs) have strong potential but have not been investigated as dietary biomarkers.We evaluated whether fatty acid CIRs and mass proportions were associated with meat, fish and sugar sweetened beverage (SSB) intake.Thirty-two men (aged 46.2 ± 10.5 y; BMI: 27.2 ± 4.0 kg/m2) underwent a 12-wk inpatient dietary intervention at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in Phoenix, Arizona. Men were randomly assigned to one of eight dietary treatments varying the presence/absence of dietary meat, fish and SSBs in all combinations. Fatty acid CIRs and mass proportions were measured in fasting blood samples and adipose tissue biopsies that were collected pre- and post-intervention. Dietary effects were analyzed using multivariable regression and receiver operating characteristic AUCs were calculated using logistic regression.CIRs of the most abundant saturated (14:0, 16:0, 18:0) and mono-unsaturated (16:1n-7, 18:1) fatty acids and arachidonic acid (20:4n-6) in plasma were strongly associated with meat, as were a subset of these fatty acids in RBC. Effect sizes in plasma ranged from 1.01 to 1.93‰ and were similar but attenuated in RBC. Mass proportions of those fatty acids were not associated with diet. CIRs of plasma 20:3n-6 and adipose 16:0 were weakly associated with SSB. Mass proportions of plasma odd-chain fatty acids i-15:0, 17:0, and 17:1 were associated with meat, and mass proportions of plasma EPA and DHA (20:5n-3 and 22:6n-3) were associated with fish.CIRs of plasma saturated and mono-unsaturated fatty acids show promise as sensitive and specific measures of dietary meat. These provide different information to that provided by fatty acid mass proportions, and are informative where mass proportion is not.