High vitamin D= longer telomeres in women

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J Brent s, Ana M Valdes, P Gardner, Dimitri Paximadas,

Masayuki Kimura, Ayrun Nessa, Xiaobin Lu, a L Surdulescu, Rami

Swaminathan, Tim D Spector and Abraham Aviv

Background: Vitamin D is a potent inhibitor of the proinflammatory

response and thereby diminishes turnover of leukocytes. Leukocyte

telomere length (LTL) is a predictor of aging-related disease and

decreases with each cell cycle and increased inflammation.

Objective: The objective of the study was to examine whether vitamin D

concentrations would attenuate the rate of telomere attrition in

leukocytes, such that higher vitamin D concentrations would be

associated with longer LTL.

Design: Serum vitamin D concentrations were measured in 2160 women

aged 18–79 y (mean age: 49.4) from a large population-based cohort of

twins. LTL was measured by using the Southern blot method.

Results: Age was negatively correlated with LTL (r = –0.40, P <

0.0001). Serum vitamin D concentrations were positively associated

with LTL (r = 0.07, P = 0.0010), and this relation persisted after

adjustment for age (r = 0.09, P < 0.0001) and other covariates (age,

season of vitamin D measurement, menopausal status, use of hormone

replacement therapy, and physical activity; P for trend across

tertiles = 0.003). The difference in LTL between the highest and

lowest tertiles of vitamin D was 107 base pairs (P = 0.0009), which is

equivalent to 5.0 y of telomeric aging. This difference was further

accentuated by increased concentrations of C-reactive protein, which

is a measure of systemic inflammation.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that higher vitamin D concentrations,

which are easily modifiable through nutritional supplementation, are

associated with longer LTL, which underscores the potentially

beneficial effects of this hormone on aging and age-related diseases.

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/86/5/1420