Shortening telomere is associated with subclinical atherosclerosis biomarker in omnivorous but not in vegetarian healthy men

Abstract

Telomere length is considered to be a biomarker of biological aging and age-related disease. There are few studies that have evaluated the association between telomere length and diet, and none of them have evaluated the impact of a vegetarian diet on telomere length and its correlation with cardiovascular biomarkers in apparently healthy subjects. Therefore, our objectives were to evaluate leukocyte telomere length (LTL) in vegetarians and omnivorous subjects and its association with classical cardiovascular risk biomarkers. From the total of 745 participants initially recruited, 44 omnivorous and 44 vegetarian men apparently healthy were selected for this study and LTL was measured in 39 omnivorous and 41 vegetarians by Real-Time Quantitative PCR reaction. Although telomere length was not different between omnivorous and vegetarians, we found a strong negative correlation between LTL and IMT (intima-media thickness) in omnivorous, but not in vegetarian group. In addition, omnivorous who were classified with short telomere length had higher carotid IMT compared to vegetarians. Our data suggest that telomere length can be a marker of subclinical atherosclerosis in the omnivorous group.

Differences in carotid to femoral pulse wave velocity and carotid intima media thickness between vegetarian and omnivorous diets in healthy subjects: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…For atherosclerosis, the studies included a total of 227 and 247 healthy subjects for vegetarian and omnivorous diets, respectively (age range 24–60 years), and for arterial stiffness, the studies included a total of 253 and 259 healthy subjects for vegetarian and omnivorous diets, respectively (age range 20–70 years). Finally, six studies measured cf-PWv 26,27,29,31–33 as an index of arterial stiffness and seven studies measured c-IMT 24,25,27–31 as an index of atherosclerosis. Table 1 shows the characteristics of the included studies.…”

“…In total, 10 studies [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] were included in the systematic review and seven in the meta-analysis [24][25][26][27]30,32,33 (Fig. 1).…”

“…1). All included studies were cross-sectional studies conducted in five countries: four in Brazil, [27][28][29]31 two in the United Kingdom 26,30 and in the United States, 32,33 one in Taiwan, 24 and one in China. 25 The studies were published between 2006 and 2022.…”

Telomere length is associated with intima‐media thickness in pediatric liver transplant patients: A prospective cohort study

“…[ 11 ] LTL reflects the cumulative burden of stressors such as oxidative stress [ 12 ] or due to infections, such as cytomegalovirus (CMV). [ 13 ] In adults, cross‐sectional analyses found lower LTL to be associated with higher IMT in omnivorous but not vegetarian healthy adults [ 14 ] as well as in adults with CV risk factors, [ 15,16 ] whereas other studies reported no association of LTL and IMT in healthy adults. [ 16–18 ] The rate of telomere shortening, however, may be a more relevant parameter, as it expresses the intraindividual change over time.…”

An original biomarker for the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases and their complications: Telomere length

“…In particular, mitochondrial dysfunction causes hyperproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) [ [21] , [22] , [23] , [24] , [25] ]. Such molecules damage DNA by oxidation of deoxyribose [ 26 ], this way contributing to shortening of telomeres [ 21 ], occurrence of mtDNA mutations and development of cardiovascular diseases [ [27] , [28] , [29] , [30] , [31] ], hypertension [ [32] , [33] , [34] , [35] , [36] ], neurodegenerative diseases [ 37 ], and also with such metabolic diseases as type 2 diabetes mellitus [ 35 , 38 ], chronic obstructive lung disease [ 35 ], arthritis [ 36 ] and different autoimmune diseases [ [40] , [41] , [42] . Besides, lifestyle of an individual can cause oxidative stress.…”