Relationship between minangkabau men's superoxide dismutase activity and consumption of saturated fatty acids and telomere length

Abstract

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCD) are the leading cause of death globally today. In West Sumatrathere has been an increase in NCD which exceeds the national average percentage. Telomere shortening is associatedwith occurrence of NCD. Shortening of telomeres is influenced by diet. The purpose of this study was to examine therelationship between Saturated Fatty Acid (SAFA) intake and Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) activity with the telomerelength of Minangkabau ethnic men.Methods: This study was a cross-sectional study. The sample of this study were 69 civil servants of Minangkabaumale at the district office in the Padang City, aged 40-50 years and according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria.Data on SAFA intake was obtained using Semi Quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire (SQFFQ), SOD activitywas measured using the Calorimetric method and telomere length was measured using Real Time Polymerase ChainReaction (RT-PCR) by O'Challaghan and Fennech method. Data analysis was performed using Pearson correlationtest with significance level p<0.05.Results: The results showed an average SAFA intake 10.47 + 3.46% calories, SOD activity 5.93 + 0.81units/ml andtelomere length 468.94 + 199.25bp. Correlation test between telomere length with SAFA intake showed (p=0.338),and the correlation test between SOD activity and telomere length showed (p=0.01).Conclusions: From this study it was concluded that there was no correlation between SAFA intake and telomerelength and there was a significant positive correlation between SOD activity and the telomere length of Minangkabauethnic men.