Dietary Selenium Intake Linked To Younger Biological Age

Biological age is a measure of how well or poorly your body is functioning relative to your actual chronological age. Telomeres get shorter as we age, and are used to determine biological age. A recent study suggests that higher dietary intake of selenium is associated with longer telomeres.

For their study, researchers looked at data from 3194 adults who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. All were older than 45. The researchers measured telomere length using the quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Dietary selenium intake was measured via a 24-hour dietary recall questionnaire.

The researchers found that every 20 μg increase in dietary selenium intake was associated with a .42% longer telomere length. When they looked at specific groups, they found that every every 20 μg increase in dietary selenium intake was associated with a .87% increase in telomere length for females and a .53% increase in telomere length for non-obese people.

The study was conducted by researchers from Guandong Medical University and Huazhong University of Science and Technology. It was published online ahead of print on January 31, 2020 in the journal Clinical Nutrition.