Correlations of the Parameters of Carbohydrate Metabolism and Saturated Fatty Acids in the Blood Serum of Elderly People

The study involves 106 elderly subjects (61–74 years old) living in the Arctic; 42 of them are residents of the Subarctic region (SR) and 64, of the Arctic region (AR). The contents of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) comprising short chain (SCFA), medium chain (MCFA), and long chain (LCFA) fatty acids, are determined by gas liquid chromatography of the blood serum. The parameters of the carbohydrate metabolism are assessed by spectrophotometry. Correlation analysis demonstrates the absence of statistically significant correlations of glucose, lactate, and pyruvate levels with the contents of SCFAs, MCFAs, and LCFAs (r = 0.2–0.29, p = 0.08–0.786) among the examined elderly SR residents compared with the AR residents, who show lower rates of excess glucose and lactate and lower rates of deficient pyruvate. On the background of higher excess glucose and deficiency rates, the examined AR cohort shows the strongest correlations with LCFAs (hexadecanoic, heptadecanoic, octadecanoic, behenic, and tricosanoic acids), somewhat more moderate correlations with MCFAs (tetradecanoic and pentadecanoic acids) and SCFAs (pelargonic acid), correlations of pyruvate deficiency with MCFAs (dodecanoic and tetradecanoic acids and total MCFA content) and SCFAs (decanoic acid), and correlations of an insignificant decrease in the rate of excess lactate and lactate/pyruvate with LCFAs (hexadecanoic, heptadecanoic, octadecanoic, and tricosanoic acids), MCFAs (dodecanoic and tridecanoic acids), and SCFAs (hexanoic and caprylic acids).