Blood and Saliva Changes After High-Fatty Acids Diet: Pilot Study.

Objectives: Previous in-vitro and in-situ research from our group have reported that dietary unsaturated fatty acids may have an anti-caries effect. Whether this is local or systemic through saliva remains elusive. In this pilot study, we hypothesized that a high unsaturated fatty acids diet can change salivary composition and blood analytes.
Methods: Four young female adult volunteers received a nutritionist-controlled and monitored high fatty acids diet for 10 days. Blood and saliva samples were obtained at 0, 3, 7 and 10 days after start the standardized diet. Whole unstimulated saliva and blood samples were obtained at 9:00 AM, under 10-hour fasting conditions. The following blood parameters were evaluated at each time point: complete blood count, comprehensive metabolic panel, lipid panel. Salivary assessment included: protein content, pH, calcium, phosphate, nitrate, nitrite and ammonium, through a reflectometer (RQflex® 20, Merck) with reactive strips. Differences were estimated with one way ANOVA at each time-point (p<0.05).
Results: A statistically significant increase in blood urea nitrogen was observed at day 10 of the high-unsaturated fatty acids diet (p<0.05). Despite the lack of statistical differences, clear changes were observed in some analytes: There was an increase detected from day 3 in blood albumin levels compared with baseline values (p=0.07). In saliva, lower levels of nitrite and nitrate were detected from day 3, and these levels remained lower throughout the entire period (p>0.05). The other molecules in both blood and saliva did not show significant variations or clear trends, with high variability among the participants.
Conclusions: A controlled 10-day high-fatty acids diet seems to modify blood and saliva biomarkers. A larger-scale study is required to corroborate or to expand these preliminary results. This research was supported by the Chilean Government Grant Fondecyt #1210188 awarded to RAG.