<p>Online supplementary Table 1</p><p>Age-adjusted arithmetic means (95% CI) 1 of plasma HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, non-HDL-cholesterol and age-adjusted geometric means of plasma triglycerides (mg/dl) by tertiles of erythrocyte fatty acid proportions for men (n=655) and women (n=1104), EPIC-Potsdam study. Men Women Tertile of fatty acid p for Tertile of fatty acid p for 1 2 3 trend 1 2 3 trend 15:0 HDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 45.0 41.9 43.2 49.8 52.1 52.9 (43.4-46.5) (40.3-43.4) (41.7-44.8) 0.16 (48.5-51.1) (50.8-53.4) (51.5-54.2) 0.002 LDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 162 164 162 141 139 140 (156-169) (158-170) (156-168) 0.89 (137-145) (134-143) (136-144) 0.88 Non-HDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 133 136 135 121 119 122 (128-138) (131-140) (131-140) 0.51 (118-124) (116-122) (118-125) 0.71 Triglycerides (mg/dl) 119 120 115 86.7 81.9 80.8 (110-129) (111-130) (106-124) 0.48 (82.2-91.4) (77.6-86.3) (76.6-85.2) 0.08</p><p>17:0 HDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 45.0 42.8 42.2 50.8 51.0 52.9 (43.4-46.5) (41.2-44.3) (40.7-43.8) 0.01 (49.5-52.1) (49.7-52.3) (51.6-54.3) 0.03 LDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 168 163 157 145 139 136 (162-174) (157-169) (151-163) 0.01 (141-149) (135-143) (132-140) 0.005 Non-HDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 136 136 132 123 120 119 (132-141) (131-140) (128-137) 0.23 (119-126) (116-123) (116-123) 0.15 Triglycerides (mg/dl) 127 117 110 94.8 82.0 73.7 (118-138) (108-127) (101-119) 0.01 (90.0-100) (77.8-86.4) (70.0-77.7) <0.0001 trans-16:1n-7 HDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 44.5 44.2 41.3 52.0 50.4 52.4 (42.9-46.0) (42.7-45.8) (39.8-42.9) 0.004 (50.7-53.4) (49.1-51.7) (51.1-53.7) 0.56 LDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 165 158 166 144 135 142 (158-171) (152-164) (160-172) 0.72 (140-148) (130-139) (137-146) 0.67 Men Women Tertile of fatty acid p for Tertile of fatty acid p for 1 2 3 trend 1 2 3 trend Non-HDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 136 133 135 123 116 123 (131-141) (128-138) (131-140) 0.86 (120-126) (113-119) (119-126) 0.93 Triglycerides (mg/dl) 118 109 127 88.3 79.9 81.3 (109-128) (101-118) (118-138) 0.15 (83.7-93.1) (75.8-84.3) (77.1-85.7) 0.05 trans-18:1n-9 + trans-18:1n-7 HDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 43.9 42.9 43.2 51.8 51.3 51.7 (42.4-45.5) (41.4-44.5) (41.6-44.7) 0.51 (50.5-53.1) (50.0-52.6) (50.4-53.0) 0.93 LDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 161 166 160 140 139 141 (155-168) (160-173) (154-167) 0.75 (136-144) (135-143) (137-145) 0.81 Non-HDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 133 138 133 120 120 122 (128-138) (133-142) (129-138) 0.98 (116-123) (117-124) (118-125) 0.39 Triglycerides (mg/dl) 114 124 116 87.8 82.3 79.4 (105-123) (115-134) (107-126) 0.78 (83.3-92.6) (78.0-86.8) (75.2-83.7) 0.009</p><p>20:5n-3 HDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 41.6 43.5 44.9 50.9 51.3 52.5 (40.0-43.1) (42-45.1) (43.3-46.4) 0.004 (49.6-52.3) (50.0-52.6) (51.2-53.9) 0.10 LDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 161 165 163 142 142 136 (155-167) (159-171) (157-169) 0.78 (137-146) (138-146) (132-140) 0.05 Non-HDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 133 135 136 122 122 118 (128-137) (131-140) (132-141) 0.31 (118-125) (118-125) (115-122) 0.14 Triglycerides (mg/dl) 121 121 113 0.20 87.3 86.4 76.0 0.0003 Men Women Tertile of fatty acid p for Tertile of fatty acid p for 1 2 3 trend 1 2 3 trend (111-131) (112-131) (104-122) (82.7-92.2) (81.9-91.1) (72.0-80.2) Men Women Tertile of fatty acid p for Tertile of fatty acid p for 1 2 3 trend 1 2 3 trend</p><p>22:6n-3 HDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 43.3 44.3 42.5 52.4 51.3 51.1 (41.7-44.8) (42.7-45.8) (40.9-44) 0.54 (51.1-53.7) (50.0-52.6) (49.7-52.4) 0.16 LDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 163 160 165 143 140 136 (157-170) (154-166) (159-171) 0.80 (139-147) (136-144) (132-140) 0.02 Non-HDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 135 133 136 123 121 117 (131-140) (128-137) (131-141) 0.86 (120-127) (118-124) (114-121) 0.01 Triglycerides (mg/dl) 119 115 120 83.2 83.6 82.4 (110-129) (107-125) (111-130) 0.93 (78.9-87.8) (79.3-88.2) (78.1-86.9) 0.80</p><p>18:2n-6 HDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 43.3 43.5 43.2 51.6 51.7 51.5 (41.8-44.9) (41.9-45.1) (41.6-44.7) 0.88 (50.3-52.9) (50.3-53.0) (50.2-52.8) 0.93 LDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 166 166 156 141 140 139 (159-172) (160-172) (150-163) 0.04 (136-145) (136-144) (135-143) 0.60 Non-HDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 136 138 131 121 121 119 (131-140) (133-143) (126-135) 0.13 (118-125) (118-124) (116-123) 0.39 Triglycerides (mg/dl) 126 120 109 83.1 83.9 82.2 (116-136) (111-130) (101-118) 0.01 (78.8-87.7) (79.6-88.5) (77.9-86.7) 0.77</p><p>20:4n-6 / 20:3n-6 ratio (estimated D5D activity) HDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 42.4 42.6 45.1 50.1 51.7 53.0 (40.8-43.9) (41-44.1) (43.5-46.6) 0.01 (48.8-51.4) (50.4-53.0) (51.7-54.3) 0.002 LDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 170 163 156 0.001 145 141 134 0.0003 Men Women Tertile of fatty acid p for Tertile of fatty acid p for 1 2 3 trend 1 2 3 trend (164-176) (157-169) (150-162) (141-149) (137-145) (130-138) Men Women Tertile of fatty acid p for Tertile of fatty acid p for 1 2 3 trend 1 2 3 trend Non-HDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 139 134 131 122 122 118 (134-143) (130-139) (127-136) 0.03 (119-125) (118-125) (115-121) 0.11 Triglycerides (mg/dl) 131 124 101 96.1 84.1 71.0 (121-142) (115-134) (93.2-109) <0.0001 (91.3-101.2) (79.9-88.6) (67.4-74.7) <0.0001</p><p>18:3n-6 / 18:2n-6 ratio (estimated D6D activity) HDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 43.7 42.8 43.5 51.4 52.2 51.2 (42.2-45.3) (41.3-44.4) (41.9-45.0) 0.85 (50.0-52.7) (50.9-53.6) (49.8-52.5) 0.75 LDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 152 160 177 132 139 149 (146-158) (154-166) (171-182) <0.0001 (128-136) (135-143) (145-153) <0.0001 Non-HDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 128 134 142 116 120 125 (124-133) (129-138) (137-147) <0.0001 (112-119) (117-124) (122-129) <0.0001 Triglycerides (mg/dl) 99.0 112 148 71.3 81.6 98.6 (91.7-107) (104-121) (137-159) <0.0001 (67.6-75.1) (77.5-85.9) (93.6-103.9) <0.0001</p><p>16:1n-7 / 16:0 ratio (estimated SCD activity) HDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 42.8 42.8 44.5 50.5 51.4 52.9 (41.3-44.4) (41.2-44.3) (42.9-46.0) 0.12 (49.2-51.9) (50.1-52.7) (51.5-54.2) 0.01 LDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 152 162 175 134 139 147 (146-158) (156-168) (169-180) <0.0001 (130-138) (135-143) (143-151) <0.0001 Non-HDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) 130 135 139 118 121 123 (125-134) (131-140) (135-144) 0.004 (115-122) (117-124) (119-126) 0.07 Triglycerides (mg/dl) 97.2 115 148 70.1 81.8 100 (90.1-105) (106-124) (137-159) <0.0001 (66.6-73.8) (77.7-86.0) (95.0-105) <0.0001 1 In a linear regression analysis we modeled the individual fatty acid proportions as tertiles. The model was adjusted for age at recruitment. We estimated geometric means and 95% confidence intervals in case of triglycerides and arithmetic means and 95% confidence interval in case of</p><p>HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and Non-HDL-cholesterol by fatty acid tertiles and tested for statistical significance of linear trends across tertiles by modeling the median value of the fatty acid within each tertile as a quantitative variable. P for trend value reflects whether the mean of the biomarker significantly falls respectively rises across the FA tertiles. </p>