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National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

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Your Environment. Your Health.

Publication Detail

Title: No association between blood telomere length and longitudinally assessed diet or adiposity in a young adult Filipino population.

Authors: Bethancourt, Hilary J; Kratz, Mario; Beresford, Shirley A A; Hayes, M Geoffrey; Kuzawa, Christopher W; Duazo, Paulita L; Borja, Judith B; Eisenberg, Daniel T A

Published In Eur J Nutr, (2017 Feb)

Abstract: Telomeres, DNA-protein structures that cap and protect chromosomes, are thought to shorten more rapidly when exposed to chronic inflammation and oxidative stress. Diet and nutritional status may be a source of inflammation and oxidative stress. However, relationships between telomere length (TL) and diet or adiposity have primarily been studied cross-sectionally among older, overweight/obese populations and yielded inconsistent results. Little is known about the relationship between diet or body composition and TL among younger, low- to normal-weight populations. It also remains unclear how cumulative exposure to a specific diet or body composition during the years of growth and development, when telomere attrition is most rapid, may be related to TL in adulthood.In a sample of 1459 young adult Filipinos, we assessed the relationship between blood TL at ages 20.8-22.5 and measures of BMI z-score, waist circumference, and diet collected between the ages of 8.5 and 22.5. TL was measured using monochrome multiplex quantitative PCR, and diet was measured using multiple 24-h recalls.We found no associations between blood TL and any of the measures of adiposity or between blood TL and the seven dietary factors examined: processed meats, fried/grilled meats and fish, non-fried fish, coconut oil, fruits and vegetables, bread and bread products, and sugar-sweetened beverages.Considering the inconsistencies in the literature and our null results, small differences in body composition and consumption of any single pro- or anti-inflammatory dietary component may not by themselves have a meaningful impact on telomere integrity, or the impact may differ across distinct ecological circumstances.

PubMed ID: 26497538 Exiting the NIEHS site

MeSH Terms: Adiposity/genetics*; Body Composition; Body Mass Index; Chronic Disease; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diet*; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Inflammation/blood; Inflammation/genetics; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Nutrition Surveys; Nutritional Status; Obesity/blood; Obesity/epidemiology*; Obesity/genetics; Overweight/blood; Overweight/epidemiology*; Overweight/genetics; Philippines; Rural Population; Telomere/ultrastructure*; Thinness/blood; Thinness/epidemiology*; Thinness/genetics; Urban Population; Waist Circumference; Young Adult

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