| Title: | Dietary Patterns and Practices and Leucocyte Telomere Length: Findings from the UK Biobank |
| Journal: | Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics |
| Published: | 18 Jan 2023 |
| Pubmed: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36669753/ |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2023.01.008 |
Publication 10975
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Shorter telomere length (TL) is associated with risk of several age-related diseases and decreased life span, but the extent to which dietary patterns and practices associate with TL is uncertain.</p>
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the association of dietary patterns and practices and leucocyte TL (LTL).</p>
DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional study.</p>
PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Data collected voluntarily from up to 422,797 UK Biobank participants, during 2006-2010.</p>
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: LTL was measured as a ratio of the telomere repeat number to a single-copy gene and was loge-transformed and standardized (z-LTL).</p>
STATISTICAL ANALYSES PERFORMED: Adherence a priori to a Mediterranean-style diet was assessed through the MedDietScore. Principal component analysis was used to a posteriori extract the "Meat" and "Prudent" dietary patterns. Additional dietary practices considered were the self-reported adherence to "Vegetarian" diet, "Eating 5-a-day of fruit and vegetables" and "Abstaining from eggs/dairy/wheat/sugar." Associations between quintiles of dietary patterns or adherence to dietary practices with z-LTL were investigated through multivariable linear regression models (adjusted for demographic, lifestyle, and clinical characteristics).</p>
RESULTS: Adherence to the "Mediterranean" and the "Prudent" patterns, was positively associated with LTL, with an effect magnitude in z-LTL of 0.020 SD and 0.014 SD, respectively, for the highest vs the lowest quintile of adherence to the pattern (both P values < 0.05). Conversely, a reversed association between quintile of the "Meat" pattern and LTL was observed, with z-LTL being on average shorter by 0.025 SD (P = 6.12×10-05) for participants in the highest quintile of the pattern compared with the lowest quintile. For adherents to "5-a-day" z-LTL was on average longer by 0.027 SD (P = 5.36×10-09), and for "abstainers," LTL was shorter by 0.016 SD (P = 2.51×10-04). The association of LTL with a vegetarian diet was nonsignificant after adjustment for demographic, lifestyle, and clinical characteristics.</p>
CONCLUSIONS: Several dietary patterns and practices associated with beneficial health effects are significantly associated with longer LTL. However, the magnitude of the association was small, and any clinical relevance is uncertain.</p>
6 Authors
- Vasiliki Bountziouka
- Christopher P Nelson
- Qingning Wang
- Crispin Musicha
- Veryan Codd
- Nilesh J Samani
1 Application
| Application ID | Title |
|---|---|
| 6077 | Telomere length measurement in UK Biobank: advancing understanding of biological ageing and age-related diseases |
Enabling scientific discoveries that improve human health