Vitamins and Minerals Influence Telomere Length - An Integrative Approach

Abstract

The protective covering of chromosome ends is called telomers, which is a DNA-protein complex that imparts two adjacent to adhere. The process of successive cell division causes the reduction of telomeric DNA and beyond a threshold limit a cell undergoes a phase of cessation of division which corresponds to cellular senescence. Thus, it becomes an indicator of biological ageing and henceforth several gerontological studies have been proposed to establish a correlation between telomere length and age-related diseases like Parkinsonism, Alzheimer’s disease, and cancer. Since micronutrients are the beads of the foundation of life on the earth, their effect is pleiotropic. Several micronutrients including vitamins are proven to be involved in the regulation of cellular progression, ROS production, inflammation, DNA-structural modelling, etc. Keeping the proven links in context, this review aims to summarise, vitamins and other micronutrients play a crucial role in maintaining telomere length and hence the probability of health span might be altered.