Greater Intake of Fruits and Vegetables Is Associated with Longer Telomere Length

by | Jul 12, 2021 | 2021, Fruits and Vegetables

Written by Angeline A. De Leon, Staff Writer. In this randomized sample of healthy American adults, consumption of fruits and vegetables was proven to be positively and significantly associated with telomere length, with greater intake directly related to greater telomere length. 

fruits and vegetablesOver the years, several lines of research have highlighted the importance of fruit and vegetable intake and its connection to better overall health 1,2. Large-scale studies continue to show the association between dietary intake of fruits and vegetables and lower mortality, with each serving of fruit and vegetables being linked to a 5-6% decrease in all-cause mortality 3. Although generally mixed, some research suggests that consumption of fruits and vegetables may also be linked to longer telomeres 4, the repetitive sequences of non-coding DNA found at the end of a chromosome which provide stability and protection 5. As telomeres gradually shorten over time, telomere length has come to be considered a measure of cellular aging and a good predictor of certain age-sensitive conditions 6. For example, some research reports that compared to those with longer telomeres, older adults with shorter telomeres face an almost 2-fold increase in all-cause mortality 7. Other work has found that shorter telomere lengths at baseline are associated with greater all-cause mortality over a follow-up period of up to 10 years 8. Whether fruit and vegetable intake is predictive of telomere length remains to be conclusively determined. To this end, a recent study 9 in Nutrients (2021) looked at the extent to which fruit and vegetable consumption might influence telomere length in healthy American adults.

A total of 5,448 healthy adults (mean age = 46.5 +/- 0.4 years) were enrolled in a national, cross-sectional study conducted over a period of four years. Fruit and vegetable consumption was measured using a standardized interview protocol using recall to evaluate food intake during the preceding 24 hours. Fruit and vegetable intake was measured both separately and combined and was expressed as grams consumed per 1000 kcal. Blood samples were also collected, and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysis was performed to measure leukocyte telomere length.

Analyses revealed that after adjusting for potential confounding variables, telomere length showed a linear relationship to combined fruit and vegetable intake (F = 22.7, p < 0.0001), telomeres being 27.8 base pairs longer for each 100 g serving of fruits and vegetables consumed. Telomere length was also linearly associated with fruits (F = 7.2, p = 0.0121) (telomeres = 26.9 base pairs longer per 100 g serving) and vegetables (F = 15.4, p = 0.0005) (telomeres = 32.5 base pairs longer per 100 g serving) separately. Models showed that each year of chronological age was associated with the shortening of telomeres by 14.9 base pairs, but that each 100 g per day increment in fruit and vegetable intake translated to a 1.9-year reduction in cellular aging. Comparing the 75th percentile of fruit and vegetable intake to the 25th percentile also showed a difference of 4.4 years in biological aging.

In this randomized sample of healthy American adults, an association between fruit and vegetable intake and leukocyte telomere length was confirmed. Whether evaluated together or separately and after accounting for numerous covariates, consumption of fruits and vegetables was proven to be positively and significantly associated with telomere length, with greater intake directly related to greater telomere length. A notable finding was that fruit and vegetable intake in women was associated with telomere length, while in men, only vegetable intake was related to telomere length. Given the cross-sectional nature of the current study, causality cannot be definitively established. Dietary assessment based on subjective recall may also be unreliable, and other measures of biological aging would have been beneficial to include. Based on available evidence, however, it is suggested that consumption of fruits and vegetables is predictive of cellular aging and that greater intake of such antioxidant-rich foods, as encouraged by American dietary guidelines, should be followed.

Source: Tucker LA. Fruit and vegetable intake and telomere length in a random sample of 5448 U.S. adults. Nutrients. 2021; 13: 1415. DOI: 10.3390/nu13051415.

© 2021 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

Click here to read the full text study.

Posted July 12, 2021.

Angeline A. De Leon, MA, graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2010, completing a bachelor’s degree in psychology, with a concentration in neuroscience. She received her master’s degree from The Ohio State University in 2013, where she studied clinical neuroscience within an integrative health program. Her specialized area of research involves the complementary use of neuroimaging and neuropsychology-based methodologies to examine how lifestyle factors, such as physical activity and meditation, can influence brain plasticity and enhance overall connectivity.

References:

  1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Agriculture. 2015–2020 dietary guidelines for Americans. Washington (DC): USDA. 2015.
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  8. Ehrlenbach S, Willeit P, Kiechl S, et al. Influences on the reduction of relative telomere length over 10 years in the population-based Bruneck Study: introduction of a well-controlled high-throughput assay. Int J Epidemiol. 2009;38(6):1725-1734.
  9. Tucker LA. Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Telomere Length in a Random Sample of 5448 U.S. Adults. Nutrients. 2021;13(5).