One of the buzziest words in health years ago was “telomere,” which is the protective cap on the ends of your chromosomes—like the plastic tips on shoelaces, according to one analogy. Every time your cells replicate, they lose a bit of this protective cap, until the telomeres get so short that the cell can’t replicate properly anymore, which is why telomere length is considered one marker of biological age.
CA Notice at Collection endurance Nutrition - Weight Loss, DAA Industry Opt Out of ultrarunners found that their telomeres were 11 percent longer, corresponding to a 16-year decrease in biological age, than non-runners.
But how much running do you have to do to see telomere benefits? Is this one of those cases where a little is all you need, or do you have to put it some serious miles?
Researcher That’s not all Tucker has to say on the topic. He also published an analysis of similar data., professor of exercise science at Brigham Young University, published three studies on telomere length, each of which offers some interesting insights. The first, published in Preventive Medicine Half Marathon Training.
Tucker analyzed data from almost 6,000 adults in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, comparing their telomere lengths (as determined during a DNA test) and their self-reported physical activity patterns. Those who exercised did indeed have longer telomeres—but only in the group that exercised the most. Here’s what telomere length looked like:
On the left axis is telomere length, in units of “base pairs.” The average telomere length in this group was 5,828 base pairs long, and the lengths were 15.6 base pairs shorter for each additional year of age.
On the right axis, I’ve plotted the difference in biological age, assuming that each year corresponds to 15.6 base pairs. The high-physical-activity group’s cells appear almost nine years younger than the sedentary group’s cells, after adjusting for differences in demographics and lifestyle.
Intriguingly, there’s no significant difference in telomere length between the sedentary, low-physical-activity, and moderate-physical groups. To get the benefits, you need to be in the highest third of activity. What does that correspond to? Based in the study, How Can Pronation Affect Your Shoe Choice at around 30 minutes of jogging five days a week for women, and 40 minutes five days a week for men.
That’s not all Tucker has to say on the topic. He also published an analysis of similar data in the Journal of Nutrition, Health, & Aging in 2017, looking at consumption of nuts and seeds. More is better: Those who consumed about 3 percent of their total energy intake in the form and nuts and seeds were one year “younger” by telomere length.
And finally, he published a further analysis in Nutrition & Metabolism in 2017, this one on the effects of caffeine and coffee. In this case, the results are a little trickier to parse. The short version: Caffeine makes your telomeres shorter (which is bad) but coffee makes them longer (which is good).
There’s previous evidence that caffeine may interfere with DNA repair, which disrupts chromosomes. On the other hand, coffee itself (even decaffeinated) has anti-inflammatory properties that could be beneficial. So which effect wins? That depends on various factors, like how strong your coffee is.
Overall, for every 100 milligrams of caffeine the subjects consumed daily, their telomeres were 35.4 base pairs shorter (after adjusting for confounders including coffee consumption).
In contrast, for every 100 grams (3.55 ounces) of coffee the subjects consumed daily, their telomeres were 15.0 base pairs longer (after adjusting for confounders including caffeine consumption).
A Grande (16-ounce) Starbucks medium roast coffee (Pike Place, for instance) typically has These 5 Secrets to Speed Will Get You Faster, so you’re trading off a 68-base-pair gain from the coffee against a 106-base-pair loss from the caffeine. At that level of daily caffeine consumption, it doesn’t seem like a big deal; but if your consumption is way higher, then any effects would be magnified.
Overall, it should be noted, That’s not all Tucker has to say on the topic. He also published an analysis of similar data have tended to find generally neutral or positive health effects of coffee (though there’s some evidence that genes for caffeine metabolism may influence the balance of positive and negative effects in individuals). But this data bolsters the case that it’s coffee, rather than caffeine itself, that may be good for you.
In the end, telomere researchers are still uncovering new information, but for now, it appears that running is a good way to boost your health and longevity.
