Abstract MP06: Healthy Diet Quality Is Associated With Epigenetic Age Deceleration

Introduction: Epigenetic age is a marker of healthy lifespan. Diet quality is known to be associated with the risk of developing chronic diseases; however, the relation between diet quality and epigenetic age remains to be investigated. Hypothesis: We tested the hypothesis that healthy diet quality is associated with favorable epigenetic age. Methods: Participants were drawn from the eighth examination of the Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort ( n =1,995; mean age 67 years; 55% women). Diet quality was estimated using Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) and Mediterranean-style Diet Score (MDS) derived from food frequency questionnaire. A second generation of epigenetic age, DNA methylation GrimAge, was calculated. Epigenetic age acceleration (GrimAA) was derived as residual after adjustment for chronological age using linear regression model. Results and Conclusions: Higher AHEI and MDS (i.e., healthier diet) were associated with decreased GrimAA after adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, smoking, physical activity, alcohol consumption, and energy intake ( P < 0.001). We observed that the association of diet quality with GrimAA was stronger in ever-smokers (i.e., former and current smokers) compared to that in never-smokers ( P interaction < 0.001 for both scores). In ever-smokers, adjusted mean Grim AA was 3.95 years (95%CI: 3.47, 4.43) and 0.65 years (95%CI: 0.11, 1.19) in the lowest and highest AHEI quartile category, respectively, or GrimAA was reduced by 1.15 years (95%CI: 0.82, 1.48) per standard deviation (SD) increase in AHEI, P < 0.001. In never-smokers, adjusted mean GrimAA was -1.73 years (95%CI: -2.19, -1.26) and -2.37 years (95%CI: -2.80, 1.94) in the lowest and highest AHEI quartile category, respectively, or GrimAA was reduced by 0.23 years (95%CI: 0.05, 0.40) per SD increase in AHEI, P = 0.01. Similarly, for one SD increase in MDS, the GrimAA was reduced by 0.92 years (95%CI: 0.56, 1.27; P < 0.001) in ever-smokers, but by 0.19 years (95%CI: 0.01, 0.38; P = 0.04) in never-smokers. GrimAA significantly mediated the association between diet quality and all-cause mortality with the mean proportion of 37.0% for AHEI ( P mediation < 0.001) and 25.5% for MDS ( P mediation = 0.001). The mediation effect of GrimAA was more prominent in ever-smokers, which was twice the proportion found in never-smokers for both AHEI and MDS. In conclusion, higher diet quality is associated with decelerated epigenetic aging, which partially explains the beneficial relation of diet quality and healthy lifespan. These results also suggest that better diet quality could be more beneficial in ever-smokers.

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Association between overall diet quality and postmenopausal breast cancer risk in five Finnish cohort studies

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-95773-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Satu Männistö ◽

Kennet Harald ◽

Tommi Härkänen ◽

Mirkka Maukonen ◽

Johan G. Eriksson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Diet Quality ◽

Proportional Hazards ◽

Postmenopausal Breast Cancer ◽

Healthy Eating Index ◽

Cox Proportional Hazards ◽

Healthy Diet ◽

Food Culture ◽

Alternative Healthy Eating Index

AbstractThere is limited evidence for any dietary factor, except alcohol, in breast cancer (BC) risk. Therefore, studies on a whole diet, using diet quality indices, can broaden our insight. We examined associations of the Nordic Diet (mNDI), Mediterranean diet (mMEDI) and Alternative Healthy Eating Index (mAHEI) with postmenopausal BC risk. Five Finnish cohorts were combined including 6374 postmenopausal women with dietary information. In all, 8–9 dietary components were aggregated in each index, higher total score indicating higher adherence to a healthy diet. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate the combined hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for BC risk. During an average 10-year follow-up period, 274 incident postmenopausal BC cases were diagnosed. In multivariable models, the HR for highest vs. lowest quintile of index was 0.67 (95 %CI 0.48–1.01) for mNDI, 0.88 (0.59–1.30) for mMEDI and 0.89 (0.60–1.32) for mAHEI. In this combined dataset, a borderline preventive finding of high adherence to mNDI on postmenopausal BC risk was found. Of the indices, mNDI was more based on the local food culture than the others. Although a healthy diet has beneficially been related to several chronic diseases, the link with the etiology of postmenopausal BC does not seem to be that obvious.

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Maternal Dietary Fatty Acid Composition and Newborn Epigenetic Aging—A Geometric Framework Approach

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition ◽

10.1093/ajcn/nqab318 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Nicholas A Koemel ◽

Alistair M Senior ◽

Hasthi U Dissanayake ◽

Jason Ross ◽

Rowena L McMullan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Newborn Infants ◽

Intima Media Thickness ◽

Response Surfaces ◽

Geometric Framework ◽

Body Fatness ◽

Epigenetic Aging ◽

Epigenetic Age ◽

Framework Approach ◽

Epigenetic Age Acceleration ◽

Aortic Intima

Abstract Background Maternal nutrition is associated with epigenetic and cardiometabolic risk factors in offspring. Research in humans has primarily focused on assessing the impact of individual nutrients. Objective We sought to assess the collective impact of maternal dietary monounsaturated (MUFA), polyunsaturated (PUFA), and saturated fat (SFA) on epigenetic aging and cardiometabolic risk markers in healthy newborn infants using a geometric framework approach. Design Body fatness (n = 162), aortic intima-media thickness (n = 131), heart rate variability (n = 118), and epigenetic age acceleration (n = 124) were assessed in newborn infants. Maternal dietary intake was cross-sectionally assessed in the immediate postpartum period via a validated 80-item self-administered food-frequency questionnaire. Generalized additive models were used to explore interactive associations of nutrient intake, with results visualized as response surfaces. Results After adjustment for total energy intake, maternal age, gestational age, and sex there was a 3-way interactive association of MUFA, PUFA, and SFA (P = 0.001) with newborn epigenetic aging. This suggests that the nature of each fat class association depends upon one another. Response surfaces revealed MUFA was positively associated with newborn epigenetic age acceleration only at proportionately lower intakes of SFA or PUFA. We also demonstrate a potential beneficial association of omega-3 PUFA with newborn epigenetic age acceleration (P = 0.008). There was no significant association of fat class with newborn aortic intima-media thickness, heart rate variability, or body fatness. Conclusions In this study, we demonstrate an association between maternal dietary fat class composition and epigenetic aging in newborns. Future research should consider other characteristics such as the source of maternal dietary fatty acids.

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Defining Diet Quality: A Review of Diet Metrics as Applied to the Double Burden of Malnutrition (OR17-01-19)

Current Developments in Nutrition ◽

10.1093/cdn/nzz039.or17-01-19 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Victoria Miller ◽

Patrick Webb ◽

Renata Micha ◽

Dariush Mozaffarian

Keyword(s):

Healthy Eating ◽

Diet Quality ◽

Fruits And Vegetables ◽

Healthy Eating Index ◽

Dietary Guidelines ◽

Healthy Diet ◽

Food Groups ◽

Policy Action ◽

Double Burden ◽

Meta Analyses

Abstract Objectives Meeting most of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) will require a strong focus on tackling all forms of malnutrition─ addressing maternal and child health (MCH) as well as diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Yet, the optimal metrics to define a healthy diet remain unclear. Our aim was to comprehensively review diet metrics and assess the evidence on each metric's association with MCH and NCDs. Methods Using comprehensive searches and expert discussions, we identified metrics that i) are used in ≥3 countries to link diet to health, ii) quantify the number of foods/food groups consumed and/or iii) quantify recommended nutrient intakes. We reviewed and summarized each metric's development, components and scoring. For each identified metric, we systematically searched PubMed to identify meta-analyses or narrative reviews evaluating these metrics with nutrient adequacy and health outcomes. We assessed validity by grading the number of studies included and the consistency of the diet metric-disease relationship. Results We identified 6 MCH, 13 NCD and 0 MCH/NCD metrics. Most were developed for describing adherence to dietary guidelines or patterns, and others were developed for predicting micronutrient adequacy. On average, the metrics included 14 food groups/nutrients (range 4–45), with 10 food-group only metrics and 0 nutrient-only metrics. The most frequent metric components were grains/roots/tubers, fruits and vegetables. We identified 16 meta-analyses and 14 narrative reviews representing 102 metric-disease relationships (98 metric-NCD and 4 metric-MCH relationships, respectively). We found 5 metrics that have been consistently validated in meta-analyses and narrative reviews for NCDs, 1 metric with limited evidence for MCH, but 0 metrics for both. Of the metrics, the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (aHEI), Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), Healthy Eating Index (HEI), and Mediterranean Diet Score (MED) were most commonly validated, especially for all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease (Figure 1). Conclusions Few diet metrics have been used in multiple countries to define a healthy diet. This suggests a serious gap in global analyses of diet quality relating to malnutrition in all its forms, which hinders effective policy action. Funding Sources Gates Foundation. Supporting Tables, Images and/or Graphs

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A Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluating the Relative Effectiveness of the Multiple Traffic Light and Nutri-Score Front of Package Nutrition Labels

Nutrients ◽

10.3390/nu11092236 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (9) ◽

pp. 2236 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Eric A. Finkelstein ◽

Felicia Jia Ler Ang ◽

Brett Doble ◽

Wei Han Melvin Wong ◽

Rob M. van Dam

Keyword(s):

Diet Quality ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Relative Effectiveness ◽

Healthy Eating Index ◽

Grocery Store ◽

Traffic Light ◽

Nutrition Labels ◽

Traffic Lights ◽

Alternative Healthy Eating Index ◽

And Control

The objective of this trial was to test two promising front-of-pack nutrition labels, 1) the United Kingdom’s Multiple Traffic Lights (MTL) label and 2) France’s Nutri-Score (NS), relative to a no-label control. We hypothesized that both labels would improve diet quality but NS would be more effective due to its greater simplicity. We tested this hypothesis via an online grocery store using a 3 × 3 crossover (within-person) design with 154 participants. Outcomes assessed via within person regression models include a modified Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI)-2010 (primary), average Nutri-Score, calories purchased, and singular measures of diet quality of purchase orders. Results show that both labels significantly improve modified AHEI scores relative to Control but neither is statistically superior using this measure. NS performed statistically better than MTL and Control based on average Nutri-Score, yet, unlike MTL it did not statistically reduce calories or sugar from beverages. This suggest that NS may be preferred if the goal is to improve overall diet quality but, because calories are clearly displayed on the label, MTL may perform better if the goal is to reduce total energy intake.

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The combined effect of obesity and aging on human sperm DNA methylation signatures: inclusion of BMI in the paternal germ line age prediction model

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-71979-8 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Albert Salas-Huetos ◽

Emma R. James ◽

Dallin S. Broberg ◽

Kenneth I. Aston ◽

Douglas T. Carrell ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Dna Methylation ◽

Germ Line ◽

Age Groups ◽

Human Sperm ◽

Absolute Error ◽

Epigenetic Aging ◽

Epigenetic Age ◽

Sperm Dna ◽

Epigenetic Age Acceleration ◽

The Impact

Abstract Male aging and obesity have both been shown to contribute to declines in fertility in men. Recent work in aging has shown consistent epigenetic changes to sperm as a man ages. In fact, our lab has built a tool that utilizes DNA methylation signatures from sperm to effectively predict an individual’s age. Herein, we performed this preliminary cohort study to determine if increased BMI accelerates the epigenetic aging in sperm. A total of 96 participants were divided into four age groups (22–24, 30, 40–41, and > 48 years of age) and additionally parsed into two BMI sub-categories (normal and high/obese). We found no statistically significant epigenetic age acceleration. However, it is important to note that within each age category, high BMI individuals were predicted to be older on average than their actual age (~ 1.4 years), which was not observed in the normal BMI group. To further investigate this, we re-trained a model using only the present data with and without BMI as a feature. We found a modest but non-significant improvement in prediction with BMI [r2 = 0.8814, mean absolute error (MAE) = 3.2913] compared to prediction without BMI (r2 = 0.8739, MAE = 3.3567). Future studies with higher numbers of age-matched individuals are needed to definitively understand the impact of BMI on epigenetic aging in sperm.

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Diet quality in late midlife is associated with faster walking speed in later life in women, but not men: findings from a prospective British birth cohort

British Journal Of Nutrition ◽

10.1017/s0007114519003313 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 123 (8) ◽

pp. 913-921 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Thanasis G. Tektonidis ◽

Shelly Coe ◽

Patrick Esser ◽

Jane Maddock ◽

Sarah Buchanan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sex Differences ◽

Diet Quality ◽

Walking Speed ◽

Later Life ◽

Healthy Eating Index ◽

Healthy Diet ◽

Linear Regression Models ◽

Physical Capability ◽

Age Related ◽

Late Midlife

AbstractHealthy diet has been linked to better age-related functioning, but evidence on the relationship of diet quality in late midlife and measures of physical capability in later life is limited. Research on potential sex differences in this relationship is scarce. The aim was to investigate the prospective association between overall diet quality, as assessed by the Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015) at 60–64 years and measures of walking speed 7 years later, among men and women from the Insight 46, a neuroscience sub-study of the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development. Diet was assessed at 60–64 years using 5-d food diaries, from which total HEI-2015 was calculated. At 69–71 years, walking speed was estimated during four 10-m walks at self-selected pace, using inertial measurement units. Multivariable linear regression models with sex as a modifier, controlling for age, follow-up, lifestyle, health/social variables and physical performance, were used. The final sample consists of 164 women and 167 men (n 331). Women had higher HEI-2015 and slower walking speed than men. A 10-point increase in HEI-2015 was associated with faster walking speed among women (B 0·024, 95 % CI 0·006, 0·043), but not men. The association remained significant in the multivariable model (B 0·021, 95 % CI 0·003, 0·040). In women, higher diet quality in late midlife is associated with faster walking speed. A healthy diet in late midlife is likely to contribute towards better age-related physical capability, and sex differences are likely to affect this relationship.

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Dietary Patterns And Risk Of Cancer: Current Evidence And Future Directions

10.2310/im.9017 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Fang Fang Zhang

Keyword(s):

Healthy Eating ◽

Cancer Incidence ◽

Diet Quality ◽

Dietary Patterns ◽

Healthy Eating Index ◽

Quality Indices ◽

Alternative Healthy Eating Index ◽

Incidence And Mortality ◽

Risk Of Cancer ◽

Diet Score

Dietary patterns capture the overall diet and its constituent foods and nutrients, representing a powerful approach to identifying the effect of nutrition on health and disease. In this review, we describe the two main approaches being used to characterize dietary patterns: a prior approach that defines dietary patterns using predefined diet quality indices, and a posterior approach that derives dietary patterns using factor or cluster analysis. Methods to define diet quality indices (Healthy Eating Index, Alternative Healthy Eating Index, Alternative Mediterranean Diet Score, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension Score) are presented, and their similarities and differences are discussed among the different approaches. We review the recent evidence on the relationships between dietary patterns and cancer outcomes, including all-cancer incidence and mortality and the incidence of colorectal, breast, prostate, and lung cancers. Despite the different methods that are used to characterize dietary patterns in different studies, results consistently suggest that adherence to existing dietary guidelines is associated with a reduced risk of cancer incidence and mortality. Given the important role of dietary patterns in cancer prevention, clinicians need to consider providing appropriate nutrition counseling to improve patients’ dietary patterns. Continuous efforts need to be devoted to better characterize the relationships between dietary patterns and cancer risk by studying specific cancer types, different cancer subtypes, and population subgroups, with a better approach that can accurately assess dietary patterns throughout the life cycle. This review contains 3 figures, 6 tables and 91 references Key words: Alternative Healthy Eating Index, breast cancer, cancer incidence, cancer mortality, cluster analysis, colorectal cancer, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, dietary patterns, diet quality index, factor analysis, Healthy Eating Index, lung cancer, Mediterranean Diet Score, prostate cancer, Recommended Food Score

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Proteomic and Metabolomic Correlates of Healthy Dietary Patterns: The Framingham Heart Study

Nutrients ◽

10.3390/nu12051476 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (5) ◽

pp. 1476 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Maura E. Walker ◽

Rebecca J. Song ◽

Xiang Xu ◽

Robert E. Gerszten ◽

Debby Ngo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Dietary Patterns ◽

Dietary Pattern ◽

Molecular Mechanisms ◽

Healthy Eating Index ◽

Linear Regression Models ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Intermediate Phenotypes ◽

Heart Study ◽

Alternative Healthy Eating Index ◽

Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass

Data on proteomic and metabolomic signatures of healthy dietary patterns are limited. We evaluated the cross-sectional association of serum proteomic and metabolomic markers with three dietary patterns: the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI), the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet; and a Mediterranean-style (MDS) diet. We examined participants from the Framingham Offspring Study (mean age; 55 years; 52% women) who had complete proteomic (n = 1713) and metabolomic (n = 2284) data; using food frequency questionnaires to derive dietary pattern indices. Proteins and metabolites were quantified using the SomaScan platform and liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry; respectively. We used multivariable-adjusted linear regression models to relate each dietary pattern index (independent variables) to each proteomic and metabolomic marker (dependent variables). Of the 1373 proteins; 103 were associated with at least one dietary pattern (48 with AHEI; 83 with DASH; and 8 with MDS; all false discovery rate [FDR] ≤ 0.05). We identified unique associations between dietary patterns and proteins (17 with AHEI; 52 with DASH; and 3 with MDS; all FDR ≤ 0.05). Significant proteins enriched biological pathways involved in cellular metabolism/proliferation and immune response/inflammation. Of the 216 metabolites; 65 were associated with at least one dietary pattern (38 with AHEI; 43 with DASH; and 50 with MDS; all FDR ≤ 0.05). All three dietary patterns were associated with a common signature of 24 metabolites (63% lipids). Proteins and metabolites associated with dietary patterns may help characterize intermediate phenotypes that provide insights into the molecular mechanisms mediating diet-related disease. Our findings warrant replication in independent populations

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Dysfunctional epigenetic aging of the normal colon and colorectal cancer risk

Clinical Epigenetics ◽

10.1186/s13148-019-0801-3 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Ting Wang ◽

Sean K. Maden ◽

Georg E. Luebeck ◽

Christopher I. Li ◽

Polly A. Newcomb ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Dna Methylation ◽

Risk Group ◽

Risk Groups ◽

Biological Age ◽

Chronological Age ◽

Epigenetic Clock ◽

Normal Colon ◽

Epigenetic Aging ◽

Epigenetic Age ◽

Epigenetic Age Acceleration

Abstract Background Chronological age is a prominent risk factor for many types of cancers including colorectal cancer (CRC). Yet, the risk of CRC varies substantially between individuals, even within the same age group, which may reflect heterogeneity in biological tissue aging between people. Epigenetic clocks based on DNA methylation are a useful measure of the biological aging process with the potential to serve as a biomarker of an individual’s susceptibility to age-related diseases such as CRC. Methods We conducted a genome-wide DNA methylation study on samples of normal colon mucosa (N = 334). Subjects were assigned to three cancer risk groups (low, medium, and high) based on their personal adenoma or cancer history. Using previously established epigenetic clocks (Hannum, Horvath, PhenoAge, and EpiTOC), we estimated the biological age of each sample and assessed for epigenetic age acceleration in the samples by regressing the estimated biological age on the individual’s chronological age. We compared the epigenetic age acceleration between different risk groups using a multivariate linear regression model with the adjustment for gender and cell-type fractions for each epigenetic clock. An epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) was performed to identify differential methylation changes associated with CRC risk. Results Each epigenetic clock was significantly correlated with the chronological age of the subjects, and the Horvath clock exhibited the strongest correlation in all risk groups (r > 0.8, p < 1 × 10−30). The PhenoAge clock (p = 0.0012) revealed epigenetic age deceleration in the high-risk group compared to the low-risk group. Conclusions Among the four DNA methylation-based measures of biological age, the Horvath clock is the most accurate for estimating the chronological age of individuals. Individuals with a high risk for CRC have epigenetic age deceleration in their normal colons measured by the PhenoAge clock, which may reflect a dysfunctional epigenetic aging process.

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