title: Associations between diet, lifestyle factors, and telomere length in women.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Leukocyte telomere length is associated with diseases of aging, but there is limited knowledge of diet and lifestyle determinants.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective was to examine cross-sectionally the association between diet, body composition, and lifestyle factors on leukocyte telomere length in women.
  
  
  METHODS
  Leukocyte telomere length was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction in 2284 female participants from the Nurses' Health Study, who were selected as controls for an investigation of biological predictors of cancer. Diet, lifestyle, and anthropometric data were assessed by questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After multivariate adjustment, dietary fiber intake was positively associated with telomere length (z score), specifically cereal fiber, with an increase of 0.19 units between the lowest and highest quintiles (P = 0.007, P for trend = 0.03). Although total fat intake was not associated with telomere length, polyunsaturated fatty acid intake (-0.26 units, quintile 5 compared with quintile 1: P = 0.002, P for trend = 0.02), specifically linoleic acid intake, was inversely associated with telomere length after multivariate adjustment (-0.32 units; P = 0.001, P for trend = 0.05). Waist circumference was inversely associated with telomere length [0.15-unit difference in z score in a comparison of the highest (> or = 32 in, 81.28 cm) with the lowest (< or = 28 in, 71.12 cm) category (P = 0.01, P for trend = 0.02) in the multivariate model]. We found no association between telomere length and smoking, physical activity, or postmenopausal hormone use.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although the strength of the associations was modest in this population of middle- and older-age women, our results support the hypothesis that body composition and dietary factors are related to leukocyte telomere length, which is a potential biomarker of chronic disease risk.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Aedín
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cassidy
authors.forename: Immaculata
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: De Vivo
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jiali
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Prescott
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Hunter
authors.forename: Eric B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Rimm
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001823:Body Composition; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004032:Diet; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000166:cytology; D008019:Life Style; D008875:Middle Aged; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016615:Telomere / Q000648:ultrastructure*
chemical_list: D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated