Healthy diet can protect your cells, promote healthy cellular aging and reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.
- Healthy diet can keep your cells healthy
- Eating a healthy diet can lead to healthy cellular aging in women
- Diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low in added sugar, sodium, and processed meats can reduce the risk of developing heart disease and diabetes
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Telomeres are DNA-protein structures located on the ends of chromosomes that promote stability and protect DNA. Age is the strongest predictor of telomere length--telomeres shorten in length during each cell cycle.
However, recent studies have shown that telomeres can also be shortened due to behavioral, environmental and psychological factors. Shorter telomeres have been associated with an increased risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers.
Leung and colleagues examined the diets of a nationally representative sample of nearly 5,000 healthy adults and how well they scored on four evidence-based diet quality indices, including the Mediterranean diet, the DASH diet and two commonly used measures of diet quality developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
For women, higher scores on each of the indices were significantly associated with longer telomere length.
"Overall, the findings suggest that following these guidelines is associated with longer telomere length and reduces the risk of major chronic disease."
In men, the findings were in the same direction, but not statistically significant.
"We have seen some gender differences in previous nutrition and telomere studies," Leung said. In our study, as well as in previous studies, men tended to have lower diet quality scores than women. Men also had higher intakes of sugary beverages and processed meats, both of which have been associated with shorter telomeres in prior studies.
"It's possible that not all foods affect telomere length equally and you need higher amounts of protective foods in order to negate the harmful effects of others. However, more research is needed to explore this further."
Source-Eurekalert