Fat intake and composition of fatty acids in serum phospholipids in a randomized, controlled, Mediterranean dietary intervention study on patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Table 2 Comparison of average daily intake (excluding supplements) of energy, fat and specific fatty acids between the Mediterranean Diet (MD) group and the Control Diet (CD) group. The dietary intake is based on the diet history interviews performed between study weeks seven and twelve.

	MD group (n = 17)	CD group (n = 17)	P-value*
Energy (MJ)	8.8 ± 1.6	9.8 ± 3.2	p = 0.242
Fat (g)	60.4 ± 21.9	89.3 ± 33.1	p = 0.005
Total saturated fatty acids (g)	18.3 ± 8.2	40.5 ± 18.3	p < 0.001
Total monounsaturated fatty acids (g)	25.3 ± 10.5	31.9 ± 11.1	p = 0.088
Total polyunsaturated fatty acids (g)	11.8 ± 3.9	10.6 ± 3.5	p = 0.381
Total n-6 fatty acids (g)^†	7.9 ± 2.5	8.2 ± 2.7	p = 0.743
Total n-3 fatty acids (g)^‡	3.1 ± 1.3	2.0 ± 0.9	p = 0.008
Ratio n-6:n-3	2.7 ± 0.6	4.4 ± 0.9	p < 0.001
Fat (E%^§)	25.0 ± 5.3	33.7 ± 5.6	p < 0.001
Total saturated fatty acids (E%)	7.5 ± 2.4	15.0 ± 3.7	p < 0.001
Total monounsaturated fatty acids (E%)	10.5 ± 2.8	12.2 ± 2.2	p = 0.067
Total polyunsaturated fatty acids (E%)	5.0 ± 1.1	4.1 ± 1.1	p = 0.028^¶
Fatty acids (g):
4:0–10:0	0.77(0.32–1.59)	3.51(1.72–4.79)	p < 0.001
12:0	0.44(0.28–0.93)	1.67(0.93–2.56)	p < 0.001
14:0	1.81(1.07–2.90)	4.68(2.79–6.19)	p < 0.001
16:0	9.46(7.29–13.29)	18.54(14.98–26.00)	p < 0.001
18:0	2.80(1.99–4.34)	6.85(5.94–9.97)	p < 0.001
20:0	0.14(0.10–0.19)	0.19(0.16–0.38)	p = 0.016
16:1n-7	0.95(0.70–1.22)	1.25(1.05–1.84)	p = 0.014
18:1n-9	20.50(14.98–28.05)	27.55(21.52–35.67)	p = 0.049
18:2n-6	7.42(5.80–9.46)	7.90(5.78–9.77)	p = 0.892
18:3n-3	1.79(1.23–2.36)	1.42(1.09–2.09)	p = 0.454
20:4n-6	0.08(0.05–0.10)	0.08(0.04–0.13)	p = 0.708
20:5n-3	0.35(0.23–0.59)	0.11(0.06–0.18)	p < 0.001
22:5, n-3 and n-6	0.07(0.05–0.11)	0.02(0.01–0.05)	p = 0.001
22:6n-3	0.73(0.44–1.03)	0.21(0.12–0.30)	p < 0.001

Data are presented as mean ± SD for normally distributed variables and as medians (25th–75th percentiles) for variables with skew distributions. *The P-values refer to the difference between diet- and control group. Differences between groups were analyzed by the Students t-test for independent samples for normally distributed variables and by the Mann-Whitney U test for variables with skew distributions; †sum of 18:2n-6 and 20:4n-6; ‡sum of 18:3n-3, 20:5n-3 and 22:6n-3; §E% = percent of total energy. ¶Difference between groups regarding E% polyunsaturated fatty acids was not significant (p = 0.101) when under- and over-reporters were excluded.