Metabolic health
Pentadecanoic acid (C15:0)
C15:0, pentadecylic acid
Included in Complete.
Compare membershipsDairy fat leaves a trace in your blood.
Pentadecanoic acid is a saturated fat with an odd number of carbons (15), found mainly in milk fat and, in smaller amounts, in beef and lamb. Because it mostly comes from food, it's widely used as a marker of dairy fat intake.
Studies link it with lower diabetes risk.
In large cohort studies, people with higher pentadecanoic acid had a lower risk of type 2 diabetes. Links with heart disease have been inconsistent.
These are associations. Researchers can't yet tell whether the fat itself helps, whether it simply marks dairy foods, or whether other habits explain the link. Your body can also make some from compounds produced by gut bacteria.
Questions
What does a low pentadecanoic acid result mean?
It usually reflects little full-fat dairy in your diet. That isn't a problem in itself, and there's no established target level. Your result is best read with the odd-chain SFA index and your overall eating pattern.
Should I take a C15:0 supplement?
C15:0 supplements are sold, but there isn't yet good evidence from human trials that raising your level improves health. It's worth discussing with a clinician before adding one.
Sources and references
- Risérus and Marklund, Milk fat biomarkers and cardiometabolic disease (Curr Opin Lipidol, 2017)
- Pfeuffer and Jaudszus, Pentadecanoic and heptadecanoic acids: multifaceted odd-chain fatty acids (Adv Nutr, 2016)
- Forouhi et al., Individual plasma phospholipid saturated fatty acids and incident type 2 diabetes, EPIC-InterAct (Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol, 2014)