Maria Lankinen

• University of Eastern Finland

Nutrition is one of the most important factors in the prevention of noncommunicable diseases. However, most Finns do not adhere to the nutrition recommendations. Furthermore, there are no commonly used digital dietary screener tools to measure and report diet quality. No such open tools or reliable consumer-oriented nutrition websites exist either...

Fatty acid desaturase (FADS1) variant-rs174550 strongly regulates polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) biosynthesis. Additionally, the FADS1 is related to mitochondrial function. Thus, we investigated whether changes in mitochondrial function are associated with the genetic variation in FADS1 (rs174550) in human adipocytes isolated from individuals co...

Context Lifestyle intervention prevents or delays type 2 diabetes (T2D) in subjects at a high risk of T2D. However, it is not known whether genetic variants modify the effect on incident T2D during lifestyle intervention. Objective To investigate whether a low or high genetic risk has effects on incident T2D in a group-based lifestyle intervention...

Purpose Hyperglycemia is affected by lifestyle and genetic factors. We investigated if dietary patterns associate with glycemia in individuals with high or low genetic risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D). Methods Men (n = 1577, 51–81 years) without T2D from the Metabolic Syndrome in Men (METSIM) cohort filled a food-frequency questionnaire and particip...

The GG genotype of the Patatin-like phosphatase domain-containing 3 (PNPLA3), dietary fat, short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) and branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) are linked with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. We studied the impact of the quality of dietary fat on plasma (p) and fecal (f) SCFA and p-BCAA in men homozygous for the PNPLA3 rs738409 v...

BACKGROUND The effect of marine omega-3 PUFAs on risk of stroke remains unclear. METHODS We investigated the associations between circulating and tissue omega-3 PUFA levels and incident stroke (total, ischemic, and hemorrhagic) in 29 international prospective cohorts. Each site conducted a de novo individual-level analysis using a prespecified ana...

BACKGROUND: It is unknown whether dietary intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) modifies the cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk associated with a family history of CVD. We assessed interactions between biomarkers of low PUFA intake and a family history in relation to long-term CVD risk in a large consortium. METHODS: Blood and tissue PUFA dat...

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) can be prevented or postponed by lifestyle modifications as shown by previous intervention studies. In most of these studies, participants have received resource-demanding individual counseling. In the 3-year T2D-GENE trial with lifestyle intervention, we investigated whether a less resource-demanding form of group and interne...

Background and aims: Lipophilic index (LI) has been introduced to assess the overall fatty acid lipophilicity and as a simple estimate of membrane fluidity. However, little is known on effect of diet on LI. We tested if Camelina sativa oil (CSO) high in ALA, fatty fish (FF) or lean fish (LF) affect LI as compared to control diet and, secondarily,...

Objective To assess the prospective associations of circulating levels of omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (n-3 PUFA) biomarkers (including plant derived α linolenic acid and seafood derived eicosapentaenoic acid, docosapentaenoic acid, and docosahexaenoic acid) with incident chronic kidney disease (CKD). Design Pooled analysis. Data sources A...

Carnitine has an essential role in energy metabolism with possible neuroprotective effects. Very preterm (VPT, <32 gestation weeks) infants may be predisposed to carnitine deficiency during hospitalization. We studied the associations of carnitine intake and serum carnitine levels with growth and brain size at term equivalent age (TEA) in VPT infan...

Scope The fatty acid composition of plasma lipids, which is associated with biomarkers and risk of non‐communicable diseases, is regulated by dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and variants of fatty acid desaturase (FADS). We investigated the interactions between dietary PUFAs and FADS1 rs174550 variant. Methods and results Participants (...

Background Deeper comprehension of eating-related behaviour (how and why people eat) can reveal new aspects to support health and prevent type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, such research is largely missing in aging men. Aim The aim was to investigate suitability of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R18 (TFEQ-R18) in Finnish aging men which is wid...

Purpose Fatty acid desaturase (FADS) variants associate with fatty acid (FA) and adipose tissue (AT) metabolism and inflammation. Thus, the role of FADS1 variants in the regulation of dietary linoleic acid (LA)-induced effects on AT inflammation was investigated. Methods Subjects homozygotes for the TT and CC genotypes of the FADS1-rs174550 (TT, n...

Introduction Fatty acid desaturase 1 ( FADS1 ) gene encodes for delta-5 desaturase enzyme which is needed in conversion of linoleic acid (LA) to arachidonic acid (AA). Recent studies have shown that response to dietary PUFAs differs between the genotypes in circulating fatty acids. However, interactions between the FADS1 genotype and dietary LA on...

Large population-based studies investigating the association of physical activity (PA) with the metabolite signature contribute significantly to the understanding of the effects of PA on metabolic pathways associated with the risk of type 2 diabetes. Our study included 8749 Finnish men without diabetes at baseline recruited from the Metabolic Syndr...

Purpose: Genetic and lifestyle/environmental factors as well as their interplay contribute to the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Several trials have shown that lifestyle intervention is effective in the prevention of T2D, but there are no trials that have taken into account the genetic risk of the participants. The aim of our T2D-GENE tria...

Background There is little knowledge on the effects of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) and n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LCPUFA) on the LDL lipidome and aggregation of LDL particles. Objective We examined if consumption of Camelina sativa oil (CSO) as a source of ALA, fatty fish (FF) as a source of n-3 LCPUFA and lean fish (LF) as a s...

The health effects of omega-3 fatty acids have been controversial. Here we report the results of a de novo pooled analysis conducted with data from 17 prospective cohort studies examining the associations between blood omega-3 fatty acid levels and risk for all-cause mortality. Over a median of 16 years of follow-up, 15,720 deaths occurred among 42...

OBJECTIVE Prospective associations between n-3 fatty acid biomarkers and type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk are not consistent in individual studies. We aimed to summarize the prospective associations of biomarkers of a-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) with T2D risk through an in...

Objective: Prospective associations between n-3 fatty acid biomarkers and type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk are not consistent in individual studies. We aimed to summarize the prospective associations of biomarkers of α-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) with T2D risk through an...

Scope The article investigates the FADS1 rs174550 genotype interaction with dietary intakes of high linoleic acid (LA) and high alpha‐linolenic acid (ALA) on the response of fatty acid composition of plasma phospholipids (PLs), and of markers of low‐grade inflammation and glucose‐insulin homeostasis. Methods and results One‐hundred thirty homozygo...

Background De novo lipogenesis (DNL) is the primary metabolic pathway synthesizing fatty acids from carbohydrates, protein, or alcohol. Our aim was to examine associations of in vivo levels of selected fatty acids (16:0, 16:1n7, 18:0, 18:1n9) in DNL with incidence of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Methods and findings Seventeen cohorts from 12 countries (...

n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and their lipid mediator metabolites are associated with inflammation. We investigated the effect of dietary intake of plant- and animal-derived n-3 PUFAs and fish protein on the circulatory concentrations of lipid mediators. Seventy-nine subjects with impaired fasting glucose who completed the contro...

Background: Several recent studies have linked higher blood levels of the long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) with lower risk of certain disease outcomes, in particular cardiovascular disease (CVD). Limited studies have evaluated associations between n-3 PUFA levels and total and cause-specific mortality. Methods: We meta-analyze...

Dietary fatty acids are suggested to affect oxidative stress; however, results from interventions have been inconclusive. The aim was to examine if fatty fish, lean fish, and Camelina sativa oil (CSO) affect the urinary prostanoid levels in subjects with impaired glucose metabolism. Altogether 79 participants aged 43–72 years completed a randomized...

Low-grade inflammation (LGI) has been suggested to be involved in the development of chronic diseases. Healthy dietary patterns, such as the Mediterranean diet (MD), may decrease the markers of LGI. Healthy Nordic diet (HND) has many similarities with MD, but its effects on LGI are less well known. Both of these dietary patterns emphasize the abund...

Background: Global dietary recommendations for and cardiovascular effects of linoleic acid, the major dietary omega-6 fatty acid, and its major metabolite, arachidonic acid, remain controversial. To address this uncertainty and inform international recommendations, we evaluated how in vivo circulating and tissue levels of linoleic acid (LA) and ara...

Background: Global dietary recommendations for and cardiovascular effects of linoleic acid, the major dietary omega-6 fatty acid, and its major metabolite, arachidonic acid, remain controversial. To address this uncertainty and inform international recommendations, we evaluated how in vivo circulating and tissue levels of linoleic acid (LA) and ar...

Background: Saturated fatty acids (SFAs) of different chain lengths have unique metabolic and biological effects, and a small number of recent studies suggest that higher circulating concentrations of the very-long-chain SFAs (VLSFAs) arachidic acid (20:0), behenic acid (22:0), and lignoceric acid (24:0) are associated with a lower risk of diabete...

Nuts and vegetable oils are important sources of fat and of a wide variety of micronutrients and phytochemicals. Following their intake, several of their constituents, as well as their derived metabolites, are found in blood circulation and in urine. As a consequence, these could be used to assess the compliance to a dietary intervention or to dete...

Background: Effects of omega-3 fatty acids on the prevention of type 2 diabetes (T2D) are unclear. Relatively few prospective studies have utilized objective omega-3 biomarkers to assess risk. Aims: To assess the prospective relationship between circulating and tissue levels of alpha linoleic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosapentaenoi...

Background/Objectives Molecular mechanisms linking fish and vegetable oil intakes to their healthy metabolic effects may involve attenuation of inflammation. Our primary aim was to examine in a randomized controlled setting whether diets enriched in fatty fish (FF), lean fish (LF) or ALA-rich camelina sativa oil (CSO) differ in their effects on the...

Background: The health benefits of substituting dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) for saturated fatty acids are well known. However, limited information exists on how the response to dietary intake of linoleic acid (LA; 18:2n-6) is modified by polymorphisms in the fatty acid desaturase (FADS) gene cluster. Objectives: The aim of the cu...

Background and aims: Omega-3 fatty acids are known to have several cardioprotective effects. Our aim was to investigate the effects of intakes of fish and Camelina sativa oil (CSO), rich in alpha-linolenic acid, on the atherogenic and anti-atherogenic functions of LDL and HDL particles. Methods: Altogether, 88 volunteers with impaired glucose me...

The fatty acid compositions of plasma lipids and cell membranes of certain tissues are modified by dietary fatty acid composition. Furthermore, many other factors (age, sex, ethnicity, health status, genes, and gene × diet interactions) affect the fatty acid composition of cell membranes or plasma lipid compartments. Therefore, it is of great impor...

Background We aimed to investigate prospective associations of circulating or adipose tissue odd-chain fatty acids 15:0 and 17:0 and trans-palmitoleic acid, t16:1n-7, as potential biomarkers of dairy fat intake, with incident type 2 diabetes (T2D). Methods and findings Sixteen prospective cohorts from 12 countries (7 from the United States, 7 from...

Background and aims Blood lipid fractions serve as objective biomarkers of dietary fat intake. It is unclear which fatty acid pool most accurately reflects the dietary intakes of different n-3 PUFAs. We aimed to investigate the effect of fish and camelina sativa oil (CSO) intakes on fatty acid composition of erythrocyte membranes (EM), plasma phosp...

Background: Epidemiologic evidence suggests that diets rich in whole grains are associated with a reduced risk of developing chronic diseases and all-cause mortality. However, the molecular mechanisms behind these beneficial metabolic effects are poorly understood. Objective: Our aim was to investigate novel trimethylated (betainized) compounds...

Scope Intake of long‐chain n‐3 PUFAs affects the lipoprotein subclass profile, whereas the effect of shorter chain n‐3 PUFAs remains unclear. We investigated the effect of fish and camelina sativa oil (CSO) intakes on lipoprotein subclasses. Methods and results Altogether 79 volunteers with impaired glucose metabolism were randomly assigned to CSO...

Scope: The aim of the study was to examine whether lean fish (LF), fatty fish (FF) and camelina sativa oil (CSO), a plant-based source of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), differ in their metabolic effects in subjects with impaired glucose metabolism. Methods and results: Altogether 79 volunteers with impaired fasting glucose, BMI 25-36 kg/m2 , age 43...

Background: The metabolic effects of omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) remain contentious, and little evidence is available regarding their potential role in primary prevention of type 2 diabetes. We aimed to assess the associations of linoleic acid and arachidonic acid biomarkers with incident type 2 diabetes. Methods: We did a pooled...

Scope: Urinary hippuric acid has been proposed as a biomarker for fruit, vegetable and polyphenol consumption. We assessed how serum hippuric acid changes after a bilberry-enriched diet (BB; high anthocyanin intake) and another berry diet including strawberries, raspberries and cloudberries (SRC; lower anthocyanin intake) and how these changes ass...

Dietary fatty acids are known to affect serum lipoproteins; however, little is known about the associations between consumption of dietary fatty acids and lipoprotein subclasses. In this study, we hypothesized that there is an association between dietary fatty acids and lipoprotein subclasses and investigated the cross-sectional association of diet...

Wide-scale profiling technologies including metabolomics broaden the possibility of novel discoveries related to the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes (T2D). By applying non-targeted metabolomics approach, we investigated here whether serum metabolite profile predicts T2D in a well-characterized study population with impaired glucose tolerance by exa...

Background: Emerging evidence suggests that dietary omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-6 PUFA) plays a role in the primary prevention of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Aims: To evaluate the relation between blood and adipose tissue levels of n-6 PUFA and incident T2D, including n-6 linoleic acid (LA), the major dietary PUFA abundant in vegetable oils,...

Background: Circulating saturated fatty acids are biomarkers of diet and metabolism that may influence the pathogenesis of diabetes. Unlike palmitic acid (16:0), which has been extensively studied, little is known of the relationship of very long-chain saturated fatty acids (VLSFAs), with 20 carbons or more, to diabetes risk. Objective: To investig...

This review will discuss the effects of fish and fish oil intake on serum lipoprotein particles. It has consistently been shown that fish oils decrease serum triglyceride concentrations; however, use of the nuclear magnetic resonance method has enabled us to study the lipoprotein characteristics in more detail. For example, it is possible to classi...

Background: A healthy Nordic diet is associated with improvements in cardiometabolic risk factors, but the effect on lipidomic profile is not known. Objective: The aim was to investigate how a healthy Nordic diet affects the fasting plasma lipidomic profile in subjects with metabolic syndrome. Methods: Men and women (n = 200) with features of...

The aim of the study was to examine associations between psychophysiological responses and emotionally arousing visual food and nonfood stimuli. Eighteen healthy normal weight female volunteers were recruited. The stimulus materials consisted of pretested pictures which each had 2 features, valence (positive/negative) and category (food/nonfood). P...

Background: Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is associated with changes in fatty acid (FA) metabolism. However, specific changes in metabolism and hepatic mRNA expression related to NASH independent of simple steatosis, obesity and diet are unknown. Methods: Liver histology, serum and liver FA composition and estimated enzyme activities base...

Our aim was to investigate the fasting proportions of fatty acids and estimated desaturase and elongase activities in three different lipid fractions in plasma, phospholipids (PLs), cholesteryl esters (CEs) and triacylglycerols (TGs), as predictors for the worsening of glycaemia (area under the glucose curve in an OGTT [glucose AUC]) and incident t...

Dear Editor: There were 2 interesting articles in a recent issue of the Journal in which odd-chain fatty acids (15:0 and 17:0) were used as circulating biomarkers of dairy fat (1, 2). In one of the studies (1), serum pentadecanoic acid (15:0) was shown to be inversely associated with incident type 2 diabetes, and in the other study (2) the associa...

Objective: 3-carboxy-4-methyl-5-propyl-2-furanpropanoic acid (CMPF) is a metabolite produced endogenously from dietary sources of furan fatty acids. The richest source of furan fatty acids in human diet is fish. CMPF was recently shown to be elevated in fasting plasma in individuals with gestational diabetes and type 2 diabetes, and mechanisticall...

Nontargeted metabolite profiling allows for concomitant examination of a wide range of metabolite species, elucidating the metabolic alterations caused by dietary interventions. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effects of dietary modifications on the basis of increasing consumption of whole grains, fatty fish, and bilberries on p...

We studied the combined effects of wholegrain, fish and bilberries on serum metabolic profile and lipid transfer protein activities in subjects with the metabolic syndrome. Altogether 131 subjects (40-70 y, BMI 26-39 kg/m(2)) with impaired glucose metabolism and features of the metabolic syndrome were randomized into three groups with 12-week perio...

We investigated with 1HNMR-spectroscopy the effects of habitual fatty fish intake on serum lipiprotein profiles in persons with features of metabolic syndrome. The participants (n = 105) were randomized into three diet intervention groups. The groups were given different dietary instructions. Increased intake of fatty fish had a significant (p < 0....

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Due to the growing prevalence of type 2 diabetes, new dietary solutions are needed to help improve glucose and lipid metabolism in persons at high risk of developing the disease. Herein we investigated the effects of low-insulin-response grain products, fatty fish, and berries on glucose metabolism and plasma lipidomic profiles in persons with impa...

The evidence of the beneficial health effects of dietary fiber and whole grain consumption is strong, but the underlying mechanisms are not completely understood. Here, we investigate how the consumption of high-fiber rye bread (RB) or white-wheat bread (WB) modifies the plasma metabolomic profiles in postmenopausal women. The study was a randomize...

Mass spectrometry has developed into a platform for the assessment of health, sensory, quality and safety aspects of food. Current nutrition research focuses on unravelling the link between acute or chronic dietary and nutrient intake and the physiological effects at cellular, tissue and whole body level. The bioavailability and bioefficacy of food...

RSC Food Analysis Monographs No 9: Mass Spectrometry and Nutrition Research. Fay, L. B. & Kussmann, M. (eds), 237 - 243

Aims/hypothesis: Ceramides and IL-6 have a role in immune-inflammatory responses and cardiovascular diseases, and are suggested to be involved in insulin and glucose metabolism. We sought to assess the associations of circulating levels of IL-6, TNF-alpha and high-sensitivity C reactive protein (hsCRP), which are inflammatory markers related to in...

Whole-grain cereals and diets with a low glycemic index may protect against the development of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, but the mechanisms are poorly understood. We studied the effect of carbohydrate modification on serum metabolic profiles, including lipids and branched chain amino acids, and dependencies between these and specific gene...

Little is known about the effect of fish consumption on gene expression of inflammation-related genes in immune cells in coronary heart disease (CHD). We sought to evaluate the effect of a fatty fish (FF) or a lean fish (LF) diet on the modulation of inflammatory and endothelial function-related genes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) o...

The evidence of the multiple beneficial health effects of fish consumption is strong, but physiological mechanisms behind these effects are not completely known. Little information is available on the effects of consumption of different type of fish. The aim of this study was to investigate how fatty fish or lean fish in a diet affect serum lipidom...

Metabolomics 2010. Breakthroughs in plant, microbial and human biology, clinical and nutritional research, and biomarker discovery. Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 27 June - 1 July 2010, 179