Investigation of Plasma Conjugated Linoleic Acid Levels in Obese and Healthy Subjects

Aim: Obesity is very widespread health problem especially in developed countries. It occurs due to more body fat accumulation than normal levels, it implicates with many factors in the etiology and it needs to treatment. Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) refers to a class of positional and geometric conjugated isomers of the omega-6 essential fatty acid, linoleic acid. An array of purposed beneficial effects of CLA, such as capability of reducing or eliminating cancer, preventing heart disease and improving immune function on human healthy have been reported. This study has aimed to investigate biologically active isomers of CLA (10-trans, 12-cis CLA and 9-cis,11-trans CLA ) in obese and healthy subjects. Material and Method: The study was performed on 105 obese people (22M, 83F) aged 18-70 years and 80 control subjects (20M,60F) aged 18-70 years. Body mass index of the obese subjects was more than 35 kg/m2 and that of healthy controls was less than 25 kg/m2. Plasma 10-trans, 12-cis CLA (t10,c12 CLA) and 9-cis,11-trans CLA (c9,t11 CLA) levels were measured by GS-MS technique. Results: t10,c12 and c9,t11 isomers of CLA levels of the obese subjects were found as follows: 13.423.94 and 9.23 5.61 mg/L respectively. The same parameters of the controls were as follows: 13.153.67 and 9.80 5.06 mg/L respectively. Discussion: The differences between plasma CLA isomers levels of obese and control subjects were not significant. But, isomers of CLA negatively correlated with waist-to-hip ratio, which accepted as a good indicator of body fat distribution, in obese subjects. These findings suggest that the levels of t10,c12 CLA and c9,t11 CLA isomers inversely associated with body fat mass in obesity.