https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7383-4706
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Abstract
Objective
Telomere length can be a biomarker of cumulative oxidative stress and inflammation indicating biological aging. Previous studies examined association of nutrient intake with telomere length targeting middle-aged and elderly individuals. This study examined whether dietary macro- and micronutrient intake was associated with telomere length in young females.
Methods
Seventy-four Japanese young females (median (interquartile range) age was 19 (19 − 20) years) participated. We estimated their intake of nutrients (energy, protein, fat, carbohydrate, essential elements, vitamins, fatty acids, and dietary fibre) using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire and measured telomere length (T/S ratio, the ratio of telomere repeat copy number (T) to single-copy gene number (S)) of DNA extracted from blood by qPCR. The association between telomere length and tertiles of nutrient intake were analysed.
Results
The median (interquartile range) of telomere length was 0.70 (0.52 − 0.98). Vitamin A intake was positively associated with telomere length (tertile 1 vs. 2, coefficient [95% confidence interval] = 0.42 [0.12, 0.71]; tertile 1 vs. 3, coefficient [95% confidence interval] = 0.33 [0.04, 0.62]) after adjusting for covariates (age, BMI, passive smoking, and drinking).
Conclusions
Our findings suggest that variation in vitamin A intake might influence telomere attrition in healthy individuals.
Acknowledgements
We thank the study subjects for their cooperation, and Dr. Koda, Department of Nursing, Tokyo healthcare University, for helping with sample collection.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).