(Press-News.org) Boston, MA--The Mediterranean diet has been consistently linked with an array of health benefits, including decreased risk of chronic disease and cancer. Until now, no previous studies have examined whether adherence to this diet is associated with longer telomere length, a biomarker of aging. Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) have found that greater adherence to the Mediterranean diet was associated with longer telomeres. These findings are published online in The BMJ on December 2, 2014.
Telomeres, biomarkers of aging, are repetitive DNA sequences at the ends of chromosomes that get shorter every time a cell divides. Shorter telomeres have been associated with decreased life-expectancy and increased risk of aging-related disease, while longer telomeres have been linked with longevity. Telomere shortening is accelerated by stress and inflammation and it is speculated that adherence to the Mediterranean diet may help buffer telomere shortening.
"To our knowledge this is the largest population-based study specifically addressing the association between Mediterranean diet adherence and telomere length in healthy, middle-aged women," explained Immaculata De Vivo, PhD, MPH, an associate professor in the Channing Division of Network Medicine at BWH and Harvard School of Public Health and senior author of this study. "Our results further support the benefits of adherence to this diet to promote health and longevity."
The researchers analyzed 4,676 disease-free women from the Nurses' Health Study with measured telomere lengths and who had also completed the food frequency questionnaire. The researchers found that a greater adherence to the Mediterranean diet, and even small changes in diet, were associated with longer telomeres.
"Our findings showed that healthy eating, overall, was associated with longer telomeres. However, the strongest association was observed among women who adhered to the Mediterranean diet," explained Marta Crous-Bou, a postdoctoral fellow in the Channing Division of Network Medicine and first author of the study.
De Vivo notes that future research should be aimed at determining which components of the Mediterranean diet are driving this association. This would allow researchers to gain insight into the biological mechanism as well as provide a basis for increased public education for informed lifestyle choices.
INFORMATION:
This research was supported by The Nurses' Health Study (NHS) is supported by the National Cancer Institute -- National Institutes of Health (1R01 CA134958, 2R01 CA082838, P01 CA087969, R01 CA49449, CA065725, CA132190, CA139586, CA140790, CA133914, CA132175, CA163451, HL088521, HL60712, U54 CA155626, R01 AR059073, HL34594). MCB is also supported by a Sara Borrell postdoctoral fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Health, Carlos III Health Institute. MD is supported by grant R25 CA94880 from the National Cancer Institute. QS is supported by an NHLBI--‐sponsored career development award R00HL098459.
Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is a 793-bed nonprofit teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School and a founding member of Partners HealthCare. BWH has more than 3.5 million annual patient visits, is the largest birthing center in New England and employs nearly 15,000 people. The Brigham's medical preeminence dates back to 1832, and today that rich history in clinical care is coupled with its national leadership in patient care, quality improvement and patient safety initiatives, and its dedication to research, innovation, community engagement and educating and training the next generation of health care professionals. Through investigation and discovery conducted at its Biomedical Research Institute (BRI), BWH is an international leader in basic, clinical and translational research on human diseases, more than 1,000 physician-investigators and renowned biomedical scientists and faculty supported by nearly $650 million in funding. For the last 25 years, BWH ranked second in research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) among independent hospitals. BWH continually pushes the boundaries of medicine, including building on its legacy in transplantation by performing a partial face transplant in 2009 and the nation's first full face transplant in 2011. BWH is also home to major landmark epidemiologic population studies, including the Nurses' and Physicians' Health Studies and the Women's Health Initiative. For more information and resources, please visit BWH's online newsroom.
Remarkable improvements in cancer survival mean that half of all people diagnosed with cancer today (2010-11) in England and Wales are expected to survive from their cancer for at least 10 years, compared to just a quarter of people diagnosed 40 years ago (1971-72), according to a new index of survival for all cancers combined*, published in The Lancet.
However, although some cancers have a good prognosis, the outlook for others remains extremely poor. For example, while 98% of men with testicular cancer survive from their cancer for at least a decade after diagnosis, ...
A new study out today in the Journal of Neuroscience shows that traumatic brain injury can disrupt the function of the brain's waste removal system. When this occurs, toxic proteins may accumulate in the brain, setting the stage for the onset of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
"We know that traumatic brain injury early in life is a risk factor for the early development of dementia in the decades that follow," said Maiken Nedergaard, M.D., D.M.Sc., co-director of the University of Rochester Center for Translational ...
A group of researchers tested whether monkeys show a common human bias: the tendency to confuse the price of a good with its quality. Previous studies have shown that humans think wine labeled with an expensive price tag tastes better than the same wine labeled with a cheaper price tag. In other studies, people thought a pain killer worked better when they paid a higher price for it.
"We know that capuchin monkeys share a number of our own economic biases. Our previous work has shown that monkeys are loss averse, irrational when it comes to dealing with risk, and even ...
In a new study published today in the journal Frontiers in Neurology, a team of researchers led by the University of Surrey, have identified a rogue protein in multiple sclerosis, which attacks the body's central nervous system. Researchers believe this finding could pave the way for better understanding of multiple sclerosis and new treatments against neurodegenerative diseases.
Scientists have previously known that rogue proteins cause brain damage in other diseases of the brain such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
In this study, scientists ...
Although some guidelines recommend use of bisphosphonates (a class of drugs used to strengthen bone) for men on androgen deprivation therapy, an analysis finds that prescriptions for these drugs remains low, even for those men at high risk of subsequent fractures, according to a study in the December 3 issue of JAMA.
Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is an effective, widely used therapy for men with prostate cancer. Adverse effects include bone loss and increased fracture risk. Canadian guidelines recommended bisphosphonate use in men with osteoporosis or fragility ...
In at least one respect, Capuchin monkeys are smarter than humans -- they don't assume a higher price tag means better quality, according to a new Yale study appearing in the open-access journal Frontiers in Psychology.
People consistently tend to confuse the price of a good with its quality. For instance, one study showed that people think a wine labeled with an expensive price tag tastes better than the same wine labeled with a cheaper price tag. In other studies, people thought a painkiller worked better when they paid a higher price for it.
The Yale study shows ...
Irvine, Calif., Dec. 2, 2014 - A comprehensive, 21-year analysis of the fastest-melting region of Antarctica has found that the melt rate of glaciers there has tripled during the last decade.
The glaciers in the Amundsen Sea Embayment in West Antarctica are hemorrhaging ice faster than any other part of Antarctica and are the most significant Antarctic contributors to sea level rise. This study is the first to evaluate and reconcile observations from four different measurement techniques to produce an authoritative estimate of the amount and the rate of loss over the ...
ARGONNE, Ill. ― A team of researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and Ohio University have devised a powerful technique that simultaneously resolves the chemical characterization and topography of nanoscale materials down to the height of a single atom.
The technique combines synchrotron X-rays (SX) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). In experiments, the researchers used SX as a probe and a nanofabricated smart tip of a STM as a detector.
Using this technique, researchers detected the chemical fingerprint of individual ...
West Orange, NJ. December 2, 2014. Stroke researchers have found that the presence of frontal lesions predicts better functional improvement in individuals with spatial neglect who received prism adaptation therapy. "Integrity of medial temporal structures may predict better improvement of spatial neglect with prism adaptation treatment" (doi: 10.1007/s11682-012-9200-5) was published in September in the Neuroimaging and Rehabilitation Special Issue of Brain Imaging & Behavior. The authors are Peii Chen, PhD, Priyanka Shah, and A.M. Barrett, MD, of Kessler Foundation, Kelly ...
To arrange for an interview with a researcher, please contact the Communications staff member identified at the end of each tip. For more information on ORNL and its research and development activities, please refer to one of our media contacts. If you have a general media-related question or comment, you can send it to news@ornl.gov.
IMAGING - Clearer brain scans ...
A clever signal noise reduction strategy developed by a team that includes Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Ben Lawrie could dramatically improve brain imaging. By using quantum correlated beams of light, ...
