Niveaux d'apport et sources alimentaires des principaux acides gras polyinsaturés n-6 et n-3 dans la population adulte en France*

The intake of individual n-6 and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) have been estimated in 4,884 adult subjects of both sexes, volunteers from the French SUVIMAX intervention trial. On an energy basis, both men and women consumed 4.2% energy as linoleic acid, 0.38% as α-linolenic acid, 0.08% as arachidonic acid, 0.06% as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), 0.03% as docosapentaenoic acid (DPA) and 0.11% as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), with a mean linoleic/α-linolenic acid ratio of 11.3. The intake of α-linolenic acid was well below the current recommendations (0.8% of energy) for almost all subjects, as a consequence of the low consumption of α-linolenic acid-rich oils and fats. The mean intake levels of long-chain n-3 PUFA were higher than the recommended levels, but showed great interindividual variations, due to very large differences in the consumption of fish, especially of fatty fish.