Abstract
Telomere length is recognized as a marker of biological age, and shorter mean leukocyte telomere length is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease. It is unclear whether repeated exposure to ultra-endurance aerobic exercise is beneficial or detrimental in the long-term and whether it attenuates biological aging. We quantified 67 ultra-marathon runners’ and 56 apparently healthy males’ leukocyte telomere length (T/S ratio) using real-time quantitative PCR. The ultra-marathon runners had 11% longer telomeres (T/S ratio) than controls (ultra-marathon runners: T/S ratio = 3.5±0.68, controls: T/S ratio = 3.1±0.41; β = 0.40, SE = 0.10, P = 1.4×10−4) in age-adjusted analysis. The difference remained statistically significant after adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors (P = 2.2×10−4). The magnitude of this association translates into 16.2±0.26 years difference in biological age and approximately 324–648bp difference in leukocyte telomere length between ultra-marathon runners and healthy controls. Neither traditional cardiovascular risk factors nor markers of inflammation/adhesion molecules explained the difference in leukocyte telomere length between ultra-marathon runners and controls. Taken together these data suggest that regular engagement in ultra-endurance aerobic exercise attenuates cellular aging.
Highlights
Regular high intense physical activity leads to an increase in cardio-respiratory fitness, which is thought to lead to subsequent reduction in risk of cardiovascular and total mortality [1,2,3]
The difference remained statistically significant after adjustment for differences between ultra-marathon runners and controls (Table 2)
This is the largest study to show that ultramarathon runners exhibit markedly longer leukocyte telomere length compared to age-matched apparently healthy controls who do not engage in ultra-endurance aerobic exercise
Summary
Regular high intense physical activity leads to an increase in cardio-respiratory fitness, which is thought to lead to subsequent reduction in risk of cardiovascular and total mortality [1,2,3]. Telomere length is a well-known indicator of mitotic replicative history and biological age. Accumulating evidence suggests that moderate amounts of physical exercise correlates with longer leukocyte telomere length [8,9,10]. Moderate exercise has been shown as beneficial in the prevention of cardiovascular disease, chronic, excessive sustained endurance exercise such as ultra-marathon running has been reported to cause nil or even adverse effects for the heart and large arteries [11]. Association studies between endurance exercise and telomere length have shown conflicting results. Other studies have shown that endurance-trained athletes exhibit longer leukocyte telomeres [14,15]. The impact of repeated, ultraendurance aerobic exercise on telomere length and biological aging remains unclear
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