ORIGINAL ARTICLE Telomere length and adiposity in a racially diverse sample VA Diaz, AG Mainous III, MS Player and CJ Everett Department of Family Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA Objective: To evaluate the cross-sectional relationship of anthropometric measures (body mass index (BMI) and visceral fat and the adipokines leptin and adiponectin) with telomere length in a racially diverse sample. Design: Cross-sectional study of participants recruited from a health science university. Subjects: Participants include 317 men and women aged 40–64 years without diagnosed diabetes, cardiovascular disease (defined as coronary heart disease or stroke/transient ischemic attack) or cancer. Results: Study participants were 54.9% female, 58% non-Hispanic white (NHW) and 42% non-Hispanic Black (NHB). Of the sample, 76% were either overweight or obese. Linear regressions showed no association between the anthropometric measures (BMI (kg m À2 ), visceral fat (cm 2 ), adiponectin (mg ml À1 ), leptin (ng ml À1 ) or adiponectin to leptin ratio (mg ng À1 )) assessed in a continuous manner and telomere length assay ratio, either for the whole sample or when stratified by race or by gender. Conclusion: This study finds no linear associations between telomere length and several measures of obesity in a sample of NHB and NHW men and women. Further studies are needed to identify factors that influence telomere length in diverse populations. International Journal of Obesity (2010) 34, 261–265; doi:10.1038/ijo.2009.198; published online 22 September 2009 Keywords: racial differences; telomere length; adiposity; adiponectin Background Telomeres consist of TTAGGG tandem repeats found at the ends of chromosomes that protect them from degradation and end-to-end fusion. They shorten as somatic cells replicate. This shortening ultimately leads to a loss of replicative capacity. Thus, telomeres may be uniquely useful in identifying biological aging and disease risk as they represent an individual’s inherited predisposition to cell senescence as well as exposure to environmental stressors, such as low socioeconomic status, smoking and life stress. 1–5 On the basis of the known association between adiposity and systemic inflammation and oxidative stress, telomere length could be expected to be decreased in obese indivi- duals, but conflicting evidence exists. 6,7 Some studies demonstrate an association between adiposity and telomere length. For instance, Valdes et al. 5 found that obese white women had shorter telomeres than lean white women, whereas Zanolli et al. 8 found shorter telomere lengths in the obese when evaluating 23 white adults. An inverse correlation has also been described between leptin, a polypeptide produced primarily in white adipose tissue, and telomere length in premenopausal, but not postmeno- pausal, women. 9 Conversely, Nordfjall et al. 10 did not find a relationship between obesity parameters and telomere length in Swedish men, Benetos et al. 11 found no association between body mass index (BMI) and telomere length in 193 French subjects and Voghel et al. 12 found no association in individuals undergoing primary coronary artery bypass graft surgery. These and other studies are limited by samples that lack minority participation, are gender specific and/or use limited measures of adiposity. 13 The few studies that have evaluated telomere length in minority samples show racial differences in telomere length, although they also present conflicting results. Some studies have shown that minorities have longer telomere length, although they suggest quicker shortening in minorities. 14,15 Another study demonstrated that blacks and Hispanics had shorter telomeres than whites. 16 One possible reason for these differences could be a differential impact of adiposity on telomere length by race, similar to the differential impact of adiposity on mortality that has been previously demon- strated between Whites and Blacks. In these studies, the association between being overweight and mortality appears to be weaker in Blacks than Whites. 17,18 To further describe the relationship between adiposity and telomere length, Received 21 May 2009; revised 5 August 2009; accepted 26 August 2009; published online 22 September 2009 Correspondence: Dr VA Diaz, Department of Family Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, 295 Calhoun Street, MSC 192, Charleston, SC 29425, USA. E-mail: diazva@musc.edu International Journal of Obesity (2010) 34, 261–265 & 2010 Macmillan Publishers Limited All rights reserved 0307-0565/10 $32.00 www.nature.com/ijo