INFLUENCE OF BODY FAT ON OXIDATIVE STRESS AND TELOMERE LENGTH OF MASTER ATHLETES SAMUEL S. AGUIAR, 1 THIAGO S. ROSA, 1 CAIO V. SOUSA, 1 PATRICK A. SANTOS, 2 LUCAS P. BARBOSA, 2 LYSLEINE A. DEUS, 1 ERICA C. ROSA, 3 ROSA ˆ NGELA V. ANDRADE, 4 AND HERBERT G. SIMO ˜ ES 1 1 Graduate Program in Physical Education and Health, Catholic University of Brası´lia, Taguatinga-DF, Brazil; 2 Department of Physical Education, UDF University Center, Brasilia-DF, Brazil; 3 Graduate Program in Health Sciences, Laboratory of Molecular Pharmacology, University of Brasilia, Brasilia-DF, Brazil; and 4 Post-Graduation Program in Genomic Sciences and Biotechnology, Catholic University of Brası´lia, Brasilia-DF, Brazil ABSTRACT Aguiar, SS, Rosa, TS, Sousa, CV, Santos, PA, Barbosa, LP, Deus, LA, Rosa, EC, Andrade, RV, and Simo ˜ es, HG. Influence of body fat on oxidative stress and telomere length of master athletes. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000–000, 2019—The present investigation analyzed the role of body fat and training history on biological aging of master athletes by comparing and verifying the relationships between markers of adiposity, oxida- tive balance, and telomere length (TL) in middle-aged runners and untrained individuals. Master athletes (sprinters and endur- ance runners, n = 21; 51.62 6 8.19 years) and untrained age- matched controls (n = 11; 45.41 6 10.34 years) had blood samples collected for biochemical and biomolecular analyzes. Pro-oxidant and antioxidant measures as well as DNA extrac- tion were performed using commercial kits. Relative TL (T/S) was determined in leukocytes through quantitative polymerase chain reaction analyses. Master athletes had lower body fat and longer TL than untrained controls (body fat: 12.21 6 4.14% vs. 26.03 6 4.29%; TL: 1.10 6 0.84 vs. 0.56 6 0.56 T/S; p , 0.05). Furthermore, master athletes also showed a better oxidative balance than untrained controls (p , 0.05). A negative correlation was observed between TL and body fat (r = 20.471; p = 0.007), and conicity index (r = 20.407; p = 0.021), catalase activity (r = 20.569; p = 0.001), and CAT/ TBARS ratio (r = 20.463; p = 0.008) for the whole sample. In conclusion, master athletes have longer TL, better oxidative profile, and lower body fat than untrained individuals. Moreover, for this middle-aged sample, body fat was inversely correlated with both TL and markers of oxidative balance, demonstrating the key role of adiposity in biological aging. KEY WORDS antiaging, aging, exercise INTRODUCTION T elomeres are repetitive DNA sequences (TTAGGG) located at the end of chromosomes to maintain the integrity and stability of the genome (3,4). Usually telomeres shorten in each round of cell division, which makes telomere length (TL) a biological marker of aging (30). In addition, leukocyte TL (LTL) seems to be an indicator of general health, being negatively associated with increased oxidative stress (13,34), body fat (24,29,37), and many aging-related condi- tions (4). Nevertheless, it is well known that a healthy lifestyle, including a controlled diet and regular physical exercise, is associated with a reduced risk of several chronic diseases during aging (8,22). Some studies have shown that a healthy lifestyle prevents the accumulation of body fat, reduces sys- temic inflammation (11,16), and decreases oxidative stress (2,33), leading to attenuation of telomere shortening (11,13,20). The lifestyle of master athletes, which includes intensified training regimens, proper nutrition, and stress control, has been postulated as a successful model to improve the trajectory of functional health during aging. Master athletes are individuals that, even in advanced age, can reach the upper limits of health and human physical capacity (18,19,31). For example, Barranco-Ruiz et al (2). demon- strated that elderly endurance athletes have lower levels of oxidative stress and increased antioxidant defense than non- trained controls. In addition, our recent study showed that master sprint athletes have longer LTL compared with age- matched nonathletes, and that LTL is negatively associated with adiposity (31). Therefore, besides low levels of oxidative stress markers, the maintenance of body fat within optimum values seems to be an important strategy to reduce LTL attrition. However, the possible role of body fat to modulate oxidative stress and LTL is poorly investigated in individuals submitted to high-intensity exercise training lifelong, such as master athletes. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze the LTL, oxidative balance, and body fat in elite Address correspondence to Samuel S. Aguiar, ssaguiar0@gmail.com. 00(00)/1–7 Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research Ó 2019 National Strength and Conditioning Association VOLUME 00 | NUMBER 00 | MONTH 2019 | 1 Copyright ª 2019 National Strength and Conditioning Association