Comment on the article 'A saturated fatty acid-rich diet induces an obesity-linked proinflammatory gene expression profile in adipose tissue of subjects at risk of metabolic syndrome'.

摘要

The effect of nutrient composition on human adipose gene expression, independently of body mass index, is largely unknown. It was therefore with great interest that I read the article by van Dijk et al (1) in a recent issue of the Journal. In their article, van Dijk et al report that intervention with a diet rich in saturated fatty acids (SFAs) results in changed expression of 1523 genes in human white adipose tissue, whereas intervention with a dietrich in monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) results in changed expression of 592 genes. After reviewing the data more in detail, it is my impression that the article exaggerates the effect of fatty acid composition on gene expression, because the authors do not seem to have made any adjustment for multiple comparisons in their analysis of microarray data.