Does Fatty Acid Composition in Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue Differ between Patients with Alzheimer's Disease and Cohabiting Proxies?

Low tissue levels of the major marine omega 3 fatty acids (FAs) DHA and EPA are found in Alzheimer's disease (AD). We investigated if healthy proxies to AD patients have higher levels of these omega 3 FAs. We observed lower levels of EPA and DHA in subcutaneous adipose tissue biopsies from 64 AD patients compared with 16 cognitively healthy proxies. No significant difference was observed when pairwise comparisons were made between a subset of 16 AD patients and their co-habiting proxies. Larger studies are needed to replicate these findings and to determine if they could depend on FA intake or differences in metabolism.