Introduction: Some factors related to obesity, such as inflammation and oxidative stress may play a substantial role in telomere attrition and, consequently, obesity is associated with telomere shortening. Emerging evidences have demonstrated that green tea and its most abundant catechin (polyphenol epigallocatechin-3-gallate, EGCG) had anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. In line of this, green tea may be positively related to telomere length (TL).
Aim: In this context, the present study aimed to evaluate the effect of decaffeinated green tea supplementation in obese women on TL.
Materials and Methods: We conduced a cross-sectional interventional study with 10 obese (BMI>40 kg/m²) and 8 normal weight (BMI >18.5 and <24.9 kg/m²) women (age between 27 and 48 years). We did not include patients with alterations in liver biomarkers. The supplementation was carried out with capsules (one capsule daily, each containing 450.7 mg of epigallocatechin-3-gallate) for 8 weeks. Anthropometric (weight, height and body mass index - BMI) and dietary intake assessment and blood collection [for biochemical (glycemia and lipidic profile) and TL analysis by quantitative PCR] were performed before (day 0) and after supplementation (day 56). Normal weight patients were evaluated at a single moment. Shapiro-Wilk test, paired t-test, independent t-test, Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis were performed as statistical analyses (p<0.05).
Results: There were not any significant weight loss (119.7±17.8 to 120±18 kg, p=0.772) or BMI (45.3±4.7 to 45.4±5gm², p=0.695) changes linked with the intervention. However, we observed a significant increase on TL after supplementation (1.57±1.1 to 3.2±2.1 T/S ratio; p<0.05). Moreover, we found shorter TL in obese patients (day 0) when compared to normal weight individuals (3.2±1.9 T/S ratio; p<0.05) and an inverse association between TL and BMI, even after age adjustment (beta=-0.527; r²=0.286; IC= -0.129, -0.009). There was no correlation between the biochemical profile and TL.
Conclusion: Obesity is related to shorter telomeres. Green tea supplementation for 8 weeks promotes telomere elongation in obese women.
Acknowledgements: This work was supported by grants #2013/08916-4 and #2014/00669-0 from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) and grant #166191/2015-9 from the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq)