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Association of Coffee Drinking with Leukocyte Telomere Length

Principal Investigator
Name
Erikka Loftfield
Degrees
Ph.D., M.P.H.
Institution
Yale School of Public Health
Position Title
Research Fellow
Email
About this CDAS Project
Study
PLCO (Learn more about this study)
Project ID
PLCO-271
Initial CDAS Request Approval
May 24, 2017
Title
Association of Coffee Drinking with Leukocyte Telomere Length
Summary
In the United States, 75% of adults drink coffee with the majority being daily coffee drinkers. Coffee is a rich source of antioxidants including polyphenols and caffeine. Increasing evidence supports potential protective associations of coffee drinking with mortality and a number of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, Parkinson’s Disease, liver disease, and some cancers. A recently published study using data from the Nurses’ Health Study found that higher coffee intake was associated with longer telomere length, a biomarker of aging whose shortening can be accelerated by oxidative stress, among women. We aim to test the association between coffee drinking and leukocyte telomere length among both men and women using data from the PLCO study.
Aims

Our primary aim is to contribute a high-quality analysis of coffee drinking and telomere length, using existing telomere length data from cases-control studies nested within PLCO. We aim to increase study power by pooling existing data from DCEG cohorts (e.g., PLCO, the Agricultural Health Study and the United States Radiologic Technologists Study).

Collaborators

Bella Kotlyar, NCI/DCEG
Erikka Loftfield, NCI/DCEG
Neal Freedman, NCI/DCEG
Rashmi Sinha, NCI/DCEG

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