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Mediterranean diet and leukocyte telomere length in a multi-ethnic elderly population

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Abstract

Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is considered as the marker of biological aging and may be related to environmental factors. The current study aimed to examine the relation between Mediterranean-type diet and LTL. We used a cross-sectional study of 1743 multi-ethnic community residents of New York aged 65 years or older. Mediterranean-type diet (MeDi) was calculated from dietary information collected using a food frequency questionnaire. LTL was measured from leukocyte DNA using a real-time PCR method to measure T/S ratio, the ratio of telomere (T) to single-copy gene (S) sequence. Regression analysis showed that the MeDi score was not associated with LTL in the overall study population (β = 12.5; p = 0.32) after adjusting for age, sex, education, ethnicity, caloric intake, smoking, and physical and leisure activities. However, we found a significant association between MeDi and LTL among non-Hispanic whites (β = 48.3; p = 0.05), and the results held after excluding dementia subjects (β = 49.6; p = 0.05). We further found that, in the whole population, vegetable and cereal consumption above the sex-specific population median was associated with longer LTL (β = 89.1, p = 0.04) and shorter LTL (β = −93.5; p = 0.03), respectively. Among non-Hispanic whites, intake of meat or dairy below sex-specific population medians was associated with longer LTL (β = 154.7, p = 0.05; β = 240.5, p < 0.001, respectively). We found that higher adherence to a MeDi was associated with longer LTL among whites but not among African Americans and Hispanics. Additionally, a diet high in vegetables but low in cereal, meat, and dairy might be associated with longer LTL among healthy elderly.

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Abbreviations

CRP:

C-reactive protein

BHS:

Bogalusa Heart Study

FHS:

Family Heart Study

LA:

Leisure activity

LTL:

Leukocyte telomere length

MeDi:

Mediterranean-type diet

MESA:

Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

NHS:

Nurses’ Health Study

PA:

Physical activity

PLCO:

Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian

SFFQ:

Semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire

WHICAP:

Washington Heights-Inwood Community Aging Project

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Alzheimer’s Association grant IIRG08-92010 and NIH grants P01AG07232, R01AG037212, R01AG028506, P60MD000206, and K99AG042483.

Conflict of interest

The authors reported no conflicts of interest.

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Correspondence to Nikolaos Scarmeas.

Electronic supplementary material

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eTable 1

Demographic characteristics among ethnic groups. (DOC 67 kb)

eTable 2

Association between the Nine Food Components of Mediterranean Diet and Telomere Length by gender. (DOC 61 kb)

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Gu, Y., Honig, L.S., Schupf, N. et al. Mediterranean diet and leukocyte telomere length in a multi-ethnic elderly population. AGE 37, 24 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-015-9758-0

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