Table 2 Fatty acid composition of erythrocyte membranes before and after each of the three dietary treatments

Saturated

41.1

41.0

40.9

40.9

41.4

41.2

0.9579

(40.7, 41.5)

(40.2, 41.9)

(40.5, 41.3)

(39.7, 42.1)

(40.8, 42.0)

(40.0, 42.3)

Trans⁴

0.05

0.02

0 .06

0.03

0 .06

0.03

0.5076

(0.04, 0.06)

(0.01, 0.03)

(0.04, 0.08)

(0.02, 0.06)

(0.05, 0.07)

(0.02, 0.05)

Monounsaturated

15.1

15.3

15.4

15.4

14.9

14.4

<0.0003

(14.8, 15.4)

(14.8, 15.7)^a

(15.2, 15.7)

(15.0, 15.9)^a

(15.2, 14.6)

(13.9, 14.8)^b

Polyunsaturated

36.3

35.6

35.6

35.8

36.1

36.0

0.1761

(35.9, 36.7)

(34.8, 36.4)

(35.3, 35.9)

(35.0, 36.7)

(34.5, 36.5)

(35.8, 37.4)

  n-6 (total)

30.4

29.7

29.8

29.7

30.0

30.5

0.2880

(30.1, 30.7)

(29.1, 30.4)

(29.4, 30.2)

(28.7, 30.6)

(29. 6, 30.4)

(29.6, 31.5)

  Linoleic

11.5

10.9

11.3

10.8

11.4

11.9

<0.0001

(11.3, 11.7)

(10.5, 11.3)^a

(11.0, 11.6)

(10.4, 11.3)^a

(11.1, 11.7)

(11.5, 12.3)^b

  Arachidonic

13.6

13.4

13.2

13.6

13.3

13.4

0.7111

(13.3, 13.9)

(13.0, 13.7)

(12.9, 13.5)

(13.2, 13.9)

(13.02, 13.6)

(13.0, 13.7)

  n-3 (total)

5.7

5.68

5.6

5.97

6.0

5.79

0.0903

(5.5, 5.9)

(5.48, 5.88)

(5.4, 5.8)

(5.76, 6.17)

(5.76, 6.24)

(5.59, 5.98)

  α-Linolenic

0 .14

0.14

0.13

0.15

0.18

0.19

<0.0000

(0.13, 0.15)

(0.12, 0.16)^a

(0.12, 0.14)

(0.13, 0.16)^a

(0.17, 0.19)

(0.18, 0.20)^b

  EPA⁵

0.28

0.34

0.31

0.30

0.30

0.31

0.1824

(0.25, 0.31)

(0.31, 0.38)

(0.29, 0.33)

(0.26, 0.33)

(0.27, 0.33)

(0.27, 0.34)

  DHA⁵

2.79

2.90

2.72

3.15

3.12

2.71

<0.0015

(2.64, 2.94)

(2.74, 3.05)^b

(2.57, 2.87)

(3.00, 3.32)^a

(2.90, 3.34)

(2.55, 2.87)^b