Dietary patterns, obesity markers and leukocyte telomere length among Brazilian civil servants: cross-sectional results from the Pro-Saude study

OBJECTIVE: Dietary patterns express the combination and variety of foods in the diet. The partial least squares method allows extracting dietary patterns related to a specific health outcome. Few studies have evaluated obesity-related dietary patterns associated with telomeres length. This study aims to identify dietary patterns explaining obesity markers and to assess their association with leukocyte telomere length (LTL), a biological marker of the ageing process. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: University campuses in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil PARTICIPANTS: 478 participants of a civil servants’ cohort study with data on food consumption, obesity measurements (total body fat, visceral fat, BMI, leptin and adiponectin) and blood samples. RESULTS: Three dietary patterns were extracted: (1) fast food and meat; (2) healthy and (3) traditional pattern, which included rice and beans, the staple foods most consumed in Brazil. All three dietary patterns explained 23·2 % of food consumption variation and 10·7 % of the obesity-related variables. The fast food and meat pattern were the first factor extracted, explaining 11–13 % variation of the obesity-related response variables (BMI, total body fat and visceral fat), leptin and adiponectin showed the lowest percentage (4·5–0·1 %). The healthy pattern mostly explained leptin and adiponectin variations (10·7 and 3·3 %, respectively). The traditional pattern was associated with LTL (β = 0·0117; 95 % CI 0·0001, 0·0233) after adjustment for the other patterns, age, sex, exercise practice, income and energy intake. CONCLUSION: Leukocyte telomere length was longer among participants eating a traditional dietary pattern that combines fruit, vegetables and beans.