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

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 (??=?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 (??=?48.3; p?=?0.05), and the results held after excluding dementia subjects (??=?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 (??=?89.1, p?=?0.04) and shorter LTL (??=?-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 (??=?154.7, p?=?0.05; ??=?240.5, p?

SUBMITTER: Gu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4352412 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature