No Clinical or Biochemical Evidence for Essential Fatty Acid Deficiency in Home Patients Who Depend on Long-Term Mixed Olive Oil– and Soybean Oil–Based Parenteral Nutrition

Background: Home parenteral nutrition (HPN) patients depend on lipid emulsions as part of their parenteral nutrition regimen to provide essential fatty acids (EFAs). Mixed-oil sources are used in modern lipid emulsions to decrease the amount of proinflammatory EFAs, mainly linoleic acid, which is present in large amounts in soybean oil. It is unknown whether patients who fully depend on such mixed lipids have adequate EFA supply. We therefore evaluated whether HPN patients who depend on mixed olive oil– and soybean oil–based HPN show clinical or biochemical evidence of EFA deficiency. Materials and Methods: Fatty acid status was assessed in plasma phosphatidylcholine (PC) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 30 patients receiving mixed olive oil– and soybean oil–based HPN (>3 months, ≥5 times per week) and 30 healthy controls. Innate immune cell functions were evaluated by assessing expression of surface membrane molecules, and reactive oxygen species, and cytokine production. Results: None of the patients or controls showed clinical evidence (skin rash) or biochemical evidence (increased Holman index [>0.2]) for EFA deficiency. The Holman index in plasma PC (median [25th–75th percentile]) was significantly higher in patients (0.019 [0.015–0.028]) compared with controls (0.015 [0.011–0.017]). No differences were found in innate immune cell functions between groups, except for a 3.6-fold higher tumor necrosis factor–α production in patients. Conclusion: We found no clinical or biochemical evidence that HPN patients who fully and long-term depend on mixed olive oil– and soybean oil–based lipids have an increased risk for EFA deficiency.