Longer Telomere Length in Elite Master Sprinters: Relationship to Performance and Body Composition

Abstract

Emergent evidence suggests that the long-term healthy lifestyle of master athletes may attenuate aging. We compared telomere length (TL) of high-level master sprinters and non-athlete age-matched controls, and analyzed the relationships of TL with performance and body fat. Elite master sprinters (n=11; aged 50.1±9.2yrs) and healthy untrained controls (n=10; aged 45.4±10.9yrs) had blood samples collected for biochemical and biomolecular analyses. Master sprinters had longer TL, lower body fat and BMI, and a better lipid profile than age-matched controls (p<0.05). A large effect size was verified comparing TL between athletes vs. controls (Cohen's d=1.039), with a significant negative correlation between TL and performance decline per decade (r=-0.624, p<0.01) and a positive correlation of TL and actual performance level (r=0.641, p<0.01). In conclusion, TL of elite master sprinters was longer than their untrained peers, and seems to be not only a marker of health status, but also an indicator of sports longevity since both actual performance level and its decrease over years were related to TL. Further research might assess the TL of elite master endurance athletes for comparison with sprinters, and also investigate the underlying mechanisms by which the attenuation of telomere shortening occurs in master athletes.

DNA Damage Following Acute Aerobic Exercise: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

“…The non-trained cohorts may not have the added antioxidant protection as a function of adaptive training. Master endurance athletes are also shown to have longer telomere length (TL), a marker of biological age, than non-athlete age-matched controls [99,100]. Telomeres are responsible for stopping cell division by activating DNA damage recognition systems [101].…”

Faster and Healthier: Relationship between Telomere and Performance in Master Athletes

“…Chronic inflammation was measured by the ratio of proinflammatory interleukin-6 (IL6) to anti-inflammatory interleukin-10 (IL10) as proposed by Neves et al [19]. The TL measurement was performed by extracting the DNA from peripheral blood nuclear cells and assessed using real-time PCR following the protocol originally suggested by Cawthon [20] and previously described by Simoes, Sousa, Dos Santos Rosa, et al [7]. The athlete's RP level was calculated individually considering the best performance of each athlete (preferred event, i. e., 100-m to 400-m dash, half-marathon, 5K, 10K, triple jump, short and long-hurdles) in the current season, and it was then calculated how much ( %) each performance represented in terms of the current world record for the specific event and age group.…”

“…In that regard, there is evidence indicating that MAs have longer telomere lengths (TL) and a lower biological age than agematched controls [5][6][7][8].…”

Probing endogenous collagen by laser‐induced autofluorescence in burn wound biopsies: A pilot study

“…Since our focus was to test the applicability of the LIAF in providing information on collagen deposition in clinical samples, the correlation was performed with biochemical method (reference measurement). Correlation studies have been successfully employed previously either to inspect the applicability of the technique to be tested by comparing it with reference method or to measure the relationship between 2 variables . Fabila‐Bustos et al have recently utilized fluorescence spectroscopy as an analytical tool to discriminate different stages of fibrosis using liver tissue samples.…”