Foods, Dietary Patterns and Occupational Class and Leukocyte Telomere Length in the Male Population

Abstract

Telomeres contain TTAGGG repetitive sequences and are located at the end of human chromosomes. Telomere dysfunction is associated with some age-related and chronic diseases, but its relationship with foods, dietary patterns, and occupational class in the young male population is not yet known. In this cross-sectional study, 300 healthy men, residents of Tehran, aged 25–40 years were enrolled from January to December 2016. We employed a cross-sectional study of 300 healthy people, residents of Tehran, aged 25-40 years. A food frequency questionnaire was used to obtain food intakes of all participants and converted into actual food intake (g/day). The principal components analysis was used to determine dietary patterns and other demographic characteristics. Leukocyte telomere length (TL) was measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to measure number of telomere repeat copy number (T) to the relative number of 36B4 copies (S) (T/S ratio). T/S in office-workers, waste recyclers, and other workers were 1.22 ± 0.4, 1.08 ± 0.3, and 1.094 ± 0.34, respectively. The results of multivariate linear regression adjusted for age, body mass index (BMI), and smoking were showed that whole grains (β = 0.02; p = .05), refined grains, fruits and vegetables, fish and dairy products were associated with an increase in log-T/S, but consumption of nuts and seeds (β = −0.00072; p = .06), meats (β = −0.00043; p = .9), produced meats (β = −0.00238; p = .03), oils and solid fats (β = −0.00146; p = .03) had a negative relationship with log-T/S in all studied occupational classes. A positive relationship was reported between the healthy (β = 0.017; p = .2) and traditional dietary pattern (β = 0.012; p = .4) with log-T/S, but western pattern identified negative relationship (β = −0.004; p = .7). Adherence to a healthy (with consumption whole grains, refined grains, dairy, and cereals) and then traditional pattern with increased consumption of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, fish and dairy products are necessary to prevent TL destruction in all studied occupational classes.

The Impact of Foods, Nutrients, or Dietary Patterns on Telomere Length in Childhood and Adolescence: A Systematic Review

“…To date, the results of the effect of fish consumption on TL remain controversial. The positive association between fish and a longer TL reported by Meshkani et al [ 29 ] is consistent with previous cross-sectional studies in the adult population [ 37 , 38 ] and one randomised controlled trial in patients with cardiovascular disease [ 39 ]. However, several observational studies with different designs found no association [ 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 ].…”

Nuts and Older Adults’ Health: A Narrative Review

“…Observational studies that have examined the association between telomere length and diet quality or dietary patterns that include or emphasise nut consumption have been performed in a range of different ethnic groups and countries, including Korea [ 27 ], China [ 36 , 37 ], Spain [ 38 , 39 ], Hong Kong [ 40 ], Italy [ 41 ], the United States [ 25 , 42 , 43 , 44 ], Iran [ 45 ], Australia [ 46 ], and Finland [ 47 ]. Of the fifteen observational studies, thirteen used a cross-sectional design [ 25 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 ], one study [ 27 ] used a prospective design, and one study included both a cross-sectional and prospective analysis [ 47 ]. Details of these studies can be found in Table 1 .…”

“…Here, nuts were combined with the food group of legumes, seeds and nuts. A further study among males in Iran showed that nuts and seed were negatively, albeit not statistically significantly, associated with telomere length [ 45 ]. It should be noted that participants in this study were younger (25–40 years) compared to most other studies in this area.…”

Serum Level of Total Lipids and Telomere Length in the Male Population: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Higher cellular lipid level with acute and chronic inflammation causes changes in TL (Lee, Martin, Firpo, & Demerath, 2011; Rehkopf et al, 2016). Cellular inflammation and oxidative stress are reported to be associated with TL (Karimi et al, 2018; Rehkopf et al, 2016). In this condition, cell division capacity is highly increased and TL becomes too short in several stages of cell proliferation.…”