MONDAY, June 11 (HealthDay News) -- In women, higher blood levels of vitamin D may be associated with longer leukocyte telomere length and a slower rate of aging, according to research presented at the 89th annual meeting of the Endocrine Society in Toronto, Canada.
J. Brent Richards, M.D., of King's College London in London, U.K., and colleagues measured leukocyte terminal restriction fragment length, and levels of 25-OH-vitamin D and C-reactive protein in 2,111 female twins (mean age 49 years).
The researchers found that subjects in the highest tertile for vitamin D had significantly longer terminal restriction fragment length than those in the lowest tertile (92.6 base pairs), a difference that was equivalent to 4.2 years of telomeric aging. They also found that twins with discordant vitamin D levels also had discordant terminal restriction fragment length.
"This relationship was accentuated by increased C-reactive protein levels and supported by discordant twin analysis," the authors conclude. "Our results provide evidence that vitamin D may be an important modulator of telomere length."
Abstract
