Low intake of vitamin E accelerates cellular aging in patients with established cardiovascular disease: The CORDIOPREV study

Corina A, Rangel-Zúñiga OA, Jiménez-Lucena R, Alcalá-Díaz JF, Quintana-Navarro G, Yubero-Serrano EM, López-Moreno J, Delgado-Lista J, Tinahones F, Ordovás JM, López-Miranda J, Pérez-Martínez P

Abstract

Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) shortening is a biomarker of cellular aging that can be decelerated by diet. We aimed to investigate the effect of dietary intake of vitamin E on biomarkers of cellular senescence in patients with established cardiovascular disease. To this end, DNA from 1002 participants of the CORDIOPREV study (NCT00924937) was isolated and LTL wa s measured by real-time PCR. Dietary information was collected using a 146-item food frequency questionnaire, and several oxidative stress and damage biomarkers were determined. We found that patients with an inadequate intake of vitamin E according to the European Food Safety Authority, U.S. Food and Nutrition Board, and Spanish dietary recommendation had shorter LTL than those with an adequate intake (p=0.004, p=0.015 and p=0.005, respectively). Moreover, we observed a positive correlation between olive oil, fish consumption and LTL (r2=0.083, p=0.010; r2=0.090, p=0.006, respectively). Subjects who consumed more than 30 mL olive oil/day had longer LTL than subjects with lower consumption (p=0.013). Furthermore, we observed higher glutathione peroxidase activity in subjects consuming less vitamin E (p=0.031). Our findings support the importance of an adequate consumption of the antioxidant vitamin E, and the value of the diet as a modulating tool of the senescence process.Read More