Abstract

BACKGROUND:

High dietary intake of linolenic acid is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality. However, little is known about the association between linolenic acid and subclinical atherosclerosis.

METHODS AND RESULTS:

To examine the association between dietary linolenic acid measured by food frequency questionnaire and calcified atherosclerotic plaque in the coronary arteries (CAC) measured by cardiac CT, we studied 2004 white participants of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Family Heart Study aged 32 to 93 years. The presence of CAC was defined on the basis of total CAC score of > or =100. We used generalized estimating equations to estimate odds ratios for the presence of CAC across quintiles of linolenic acid. The average consumption of dietary linolenic acid was 0.82+/-0.36 g/d for men and 0.69+/-0.29 g/d for women. From the lowest to the highest quintile of linolenic acid, adjusted odds ratios (95% CI) for the presence of CAC were 1.0 (reference), 0.61 (0.42 to 0.88), 0.55 (0.35 to 0.84), 0.57 (0.37 to 0.88), and 0.35 (0.22 to 0.55), respectively (P for trend <0.0001), after we controlled for age, gender, education, family risk group, smoking, fruit and vegetable intake, history of coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and statin use. When linolenic acid was used as a continuous variable, the multivariate adjusted odds ratio was 0.38 (95% CI, 0.24 to 0.46) per gram of linolenic acid intake. Use of different cut points for CAC score yielded similar results.

CONCLUSIONS:

Consumption of dietary linolenic acid is associated with a lower prevalence of CAC in a dose-response fashion in white men and women.