TITLE:
Association between Dietary Collagen Consumption and Telomere Length: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
AUTHORS:
Huifeng Jin, Rolando L. Maddela, Robert A. Sinnott
KEYWORDS:
Telomere Length, Dietary Collagen, NHANES, Linear Regression
JOURNAL NAME:
Health,
Vol.15 No.10,
October
24,
2023
ABSTRACT: Background: Bioactive peptides derived from hydrolyzed collagen have broad physiological
functions and beneficial effects on human health, ranging from reducing skin
aging to modifying lipid metabolism. Telomere length shortening is an
established biomarker of cellular aging. It is not known if collagen
consumption is associated with telomere length protection. Our purpose was to
investigate the relationship between dietary collagen consumption and telomere
length in a nationally representative US adult population. Methods: We
analyzed the data of 6173 adults aged 20 - 84 from
the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2002. Multivariable linear regression and a generalized
additive model with smoothing plot were used to assess the association
between the total collagen consumption and log-transformed leukocyte telomere
length (LTL). Results: Compared with the lowest quartile of total
collagen (Q1), we found that the second quartile of collagen (Q2) consumption
(1.36 - 3.40 g/1000kcal) was positively associated with telomere length (β: 0.017; 95% CI: 0.006, 0.028; P =
0.022) in the females while no association in the males (β: −0.003; 95% CI: −0.019, 0.012; P = 0.678) and overall population
(β: 0.008; 95% CI: −0.002, 0.018; P =
0.141). The association in the females is nonlinear with
an inflection point of 2.5 g/1000kcal (P for non-linearity: Conclusion: In conclusion, moderate dietary collagen has a positive and nonlinear
association with telomere length in US females, while no significant
associations were found in the males and the overall population.