Define Telomeres What are the issues? Provide overview of key
epidemiological studies associating lifestyle and dietary factors
with telomere length Life Style factors: Body weight (obesity)
Exercise Stress Dietary factors Vitamins and vitamin D Fish oil
(Omega-3 fatty acidsEPA and DHA) Dietary fiber (insoluble) Green
Tea
Slide 3
The end of chromosomes (DNA sequences with base pairs TTAGGG)
that protect DNA They shorten with cell division (natural aging
process) Highly sensitive to oxidative damage (more so than DNA )
Other things besides aging can accelerate the telomere shortening
Enzyme (telomerase) adds base pairs (bp) to keep telomeres from
getting too short Telomere length is emerging as novel marker of
biological age (vs chronological age) The BUZZ: product B
stimulates telomerase, reduces telomere shortening (maybe even
lengthen), therefore we are may extend lifecannot say this! But
they are thinking it 1.
Slide 4
"Telomere length, like any other risk measurement, tells us the
probability of disease and early mortality. It is not a diagnosis,"
Dr. Elissa Epel, a health psychologist at the University of
California-San Francisco and a founder of Telomere Health Inc., one
of the companies that tests telomere lengthpart of the Elizabeth
Blackburns group Studies I will show you are OBSERVATIONAL
associating telomere length with some health aspect...these studies
were not designed to test cause and effectsideal type of study:
i.e.1000 mg Vitamin D taken daily for three years showed increased
telomere length in women compared to women not taking vitamin
D.
Slide 5
Epel et al. The rate of leukocyte telomere shortening predicts
mortality from CVD in elderly men. Aging. 2008;1(1):81-88. Cawthon
et al. Association between telomere length in blood and mortality
in people aged 60 years or older. Lancet. 2003; 361(9355):393-395.
Brouilette et al. White cell telomere length and risk of premature
myocardial infarction. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol.
2003;23(5):842-846.
Slide 6
Outcome desired using Isagenix: Protect telomeres or reduce
accelerated telomere shortening Will we ever measure telomeres? You
can...takes a while to see a difference (years) The HOPE: if I
protect my telomeres from shortening, I live longer? A stretch for
sure, but its probably the conclusion people will jump to...what
are we responsible for? So, what can we say ?
Slide 7
Q: If they are a marker for biological aging, who cares??? We
cant really measure them to show we did something, then why talk
about them? A: Use the literature! Scientific studies are showing
associations with diets and lifestyle, so perhaps we can link to
these and suggest our products with lifestyle changes may also
protect telomeres AND a potential side-affects, you may feel
younger!
Slide 8
What do we wish to tell our associates? What product(s) do we
wish to implicate with telomeres? Can we substantiate any product
with telomeres? Can we defend lifestyle habits that may impact
telomeres or Happy Aging? Healthy Aging? What is our moral and
ethical decision in selling products if we dont have
substantiation?
Slide 9
How do any of our Products (Product B?) Programs (30-day?)
ingredients (vitamins, Coq-10?) relate to published
literature?
Slide 10
Shorter Telomeres Associated with: Aging!!! Psychological
stress and depression Low physical activity (< 14 min/d) Smoking
Eating too much (increased BMI and waist circumference)
Slide 11
Those with longer courses of major depression had significantly
shorter leukocyte telomeres than controls. This was research led by
Elizabeth Blackburn Wolkowitz et al. Leukocyte Telomere Length in
Major Depression: Correlations with Chronicity, Inflammation and
Oxidative Stress - Preliminary Findings. PLos One. 2011
Slide 12
Cherkas L et al. The Association Between Physical Activity in
Leisure Time and Leukocyte Telomere Length. Arch Intern Med.
2008;168(2):154-158. Activity level and lifestyle correlated with
telomere length
Slide 13
A cross sectional study in 647 women ages 35 to 74 Higher BMI
(ages 31 to 39) Weight gain Weight cycling Inversely associated
with leukocyte telomere length Kim S et al. Obesity and weight gain
in adulthood and telomere length. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers
& Prevention 2009; 18: 816-20.
Slide 14
Epidemiologic evidence that multivitamin use was associated
with longer telomere length among women
Slide 15
National Institute of Health published these epidemiological
data AJCN, 2009 The study found that women who used multivitamins
had an average of 5 percent longer telomeres compared to non-users
of multivitamins This may be translated to nearly a decade of
age-related telomere loss
Slide 16
Blood collected in 2,160 women Results: high CRP (oxidative
stress) had shortest telomeres; high CRP and low Vitamin D had
shortest telomeres Lowest vit. D tertile Middle vit. D ter tile
Highest vit. D
Slide 17
In the large population of women higher serum vitamin D
concentrations were associated with longer LTL Every tertile of
vitamin D, LTL was shorter in individuals with higher CRP
concentrations associated with 5 y of chronologic age Although
these associations do not prove causality, they do suggest that
vitamin D may play an important role in the modulation of LTL,
which is related to aging and age-related diseases. Shortened LTL
is an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease and our
results suggest that vitamin D, which is easily modifiable through
supplementation, may possibly attenuate LTL degradation. Vitamin D
supplement users were also found to have longer LTLs than did
nonusers, which provides support for this hypothesis.
Slide 18
Patients with coronary artery disease were followed for 5 years
Divided into quintiles based on blood omega 3 levels Those in the
lowest quartile of DHA / EPA experienced the fastest rate of
telomere shortening over 5 years those in the highest quartile
experienced the slowest rate of telomere shortening Each 1-SD
increase in DHA_EPA levels was associated with a 32% reduction in
the odds of telomere shortening Conclusion : Among this cohort of
patients with coronary artery disease, there was an inverse
relationship between baseline blood levels of marine omega- 3 fatty
acids and the rate of telomere shortening JAMA. 2010
Slide 19
This study did not supplement subjects with omega-3 This was an
observational study This population had heart disease In science
thinking, you cant jump from a diseased population and suggest
these data apply to a healthy populationgotta test the healthy
population! So, can we say?: High blood levels of omega-3 fatty
acids may reduce the rate of telomere shortening
Slide 20
Dietary fiber intake was positively associated with telomere
length Polyunsaturated was associated with telomere length (PUFAs
may be inflammatory) Waist circumference was inversely associated
with telomere length They found no association between telomere
length and smoking, physical activity, or postmenopausal hormone
use. ??
Slide 21
Slide 22
Drinking more than 3 cups of green tea daily is associated with
longer telomere length in elderly Chinese men, according to
researchers from the Centre for Nutritional Studies, Chinese
University of Hong Kong. The study was published in 2010 in the
British Journal of Nutrition. The men with the highest tea
consumption -- more than three cups or 750 ml per day -- had a
telomere length that corresponded to a difference of five years of
life.
