Association Between Ultraprocessed Foods Consumption and Leucocyte Telomere Length: A Cross-Sectional Study of UK Biobank.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: □ OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate the association between consumption of ultraprocessed foods and leucocyte telomere length (LTL). METHODS: This cross-sectional study utilized data from the UK Biobank, including a total of 64,690 participants. LTL was measured using qPCR with natural logarithmic conversion and z-score normalization. Dietary data were collected through a 24-h recall questionnaire from 2009 to 2010. Ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) were identified using the NOVA food classification as either a continuous or a categorical variable. Multiple linear regression models were employed to analyze the association between UPF consumption and LTL. RESULTS: The included participants had an average age of 56.26 y, of whom 55.2% were female. After adjusting for demographic and health-related variables, LTL exhibited a decrease of 0.005 (95% CI -0.007, -0.002) with 1 UPF serving increase. Compared with participants consuming ≤3.5 servings/d, those consuming 3.5 to <6 servings showed a shortening of LTL by 0.025 (95% CI -0.046, -0.003). Participants consuming 6 to ≤8 servings/d and >8 servings/d had LTL shortening of 0.032 (95% CI -0.054, -0.011) and 0.037 (95% CI -0.060, -0.014), respectively (P for trend = 0.002). Subgroup analyses by UPF subclasses revealed that the consumption of ready-to-eat/heated food (ß -0.010; 95% CI -0.016, -0.004), beans and potatoes (ß -0.027; 95% CI -0.043, -0.012), animal-based products (ß -0.012; 95% CI -0.020, -0.005), artificial sugar (ß -0.014; 95% CI-0.025,-0.003), and beverages (ß -0.005; 95% CI -0.009, -0.001) showed negative associations with LTL. Conversely, breakfast cereals (ß 0.022; 95% CI 0.006, 0.038) and vegetarian alternatives (ß 0.056; 95% CI0.026,0.085) showed positive correlations with LTL. CONCLUSIONS: Our study found that a higher consumption of total UPF was associated with a shorter LTL. However, some UPFs may be associated with longer LTL, depending on their nutritional composition.