The impact of dairy fats on cardiovascular risk has been debated. Circulating Pentadecanoic (15:0) and heptadecanoic (17:0) saturated fatty acids are good biomarkers of dairy product consumption as they are mainly provided by dairy fats. We described the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors according to erythrocyte membrane phospholipid content in 15:0 and 17:0 fatty acids.

402 women and men aged 45-64 were randomly selected in 2005-2007, from the general population of three French areas. Nutritional data were collected through a 3-day food record. Fatty acid content was measured in erythrocyte membrane phospholipids.

Erythrocyte membrane contents in 15:0 and 17:0 fatty acids significantly increased with the consumption of dairy products collected during the 3-day food record. Prevalence of hypertension significantly decreased from the lowest to the highest quartile of 15:0 erythrocyte content (48.1%; 33.3%; 29.9%; 25.5%; p=0.005). A similar trend was observed for metabolic syndrome prevalence (39.4%; 28.1%; 25.2%; 21.3%; p=0.029). Prevalence of hypertension, hypertriglyceridaemia, overweight and metabolic syndrome significantly decreased from the lowest to the highest quartile of 17:0 erythrocyte content (44.1%; 36.5%; 28.1%; 25.6%; p=0.020 for hypertension; 30.3%; 15.4%; 16.9%; 16.7%; p=0.017 for hypertriglyceridaemia; 68.1%; 58.7%; 46.6%; 44.4%; p=0.002 for overweight; and 43.2%; 26.9%; 22.5%; 17.8%; p<0.001 for metabolic syndrome). All these relationships remained significant after adjustment for age and gender. The link did not reach significance level for diabetes.

Elevated erythrocyte membrane phospholipid contents in 15:0 and 17:0 saturated fatty acids are associated with a lower prevalence of the metabolic syndrome and several of its components. These results suggest that saturated fat intake should not be systematically associated with high cardiovascular risk and can be considered as part of a balanced diet.