Associations between erythrocyte membrane fatty acid compositions and insulin resistance in obese adolescents

•Overweight and obesity are significant growing public health problems in children.•Increased FA levels are associated with insulin resistance in obese individuals.•This is the first study evaluating EM FA levels in obese adolescents in Turkey.•The importance of FAs, particularly EPA, is highlighted in obese adolescents. Cytokines released from the adipose tissue and fatty acids (FAs) derived from lipolysis or uptake of fats go in to competition with glucose to be uptaken from the liver leads to insulin resistance (IR). We aimed to show the associations among serum lipid profile, FA compositions and IR. Anthropometrical measurements, biochemical parameters and erythrocyte membrane (EM) FA levels of 95 obese adolescents (41 with IR) and 40 healthy controls were compared. LDL-C, fasting insulin levels, HOMA-IR were significantly higher and HDL-C levels were significantly lower in obese patients than in controls (p=0.013, p