The consumption of Sechium edule (chayote) has antioxidant effect and prevents telomere attrition in older adults with metabolic syndrome

ABSTRACT

Objective

To determine the effect of the consumption of Sechium edule (1.5 g/day) for six months on oxidative stress (OxS) and inflammation markers and its association with telomere length (TL) in older adults with metabolic syndrome (MetS).

Methods

The study was conducted in a sample of 48 older adults: placebo (EP) and experimental (EG) groups. Lipoperoxides, protein carbonylation, 8-OHdG, total oxidant status (TOS), SOD, GPx, H₂O₂ inhibition, total antioxidant status (TAS), inflammatory cytokines (IL6, IL10, TNF-α), and TL were measured before and six months post-treatment.

Results

We found a significant decrease in the levels of lipoperoxides, protein carbonylation, 8-OHdG, TOS in the EG in comparison PG. Likewise, a significante increase of TAS, IL-6, and IL-10 levels was found at six months post-treatment in EG in comparison with PG. TL showed a statistically significant decrease in PG compared to post-treatment EG.

Conclusions

Our findigns showed that the supplementation of Sechium edule has antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory effects, and diminushion of shortening of telomeric DNA in older adults with MetS. This would be the first study that shows that the intervention with Sechium edule has a possible geroprotective effect by preventing telomeres from shortening as usually happens in these patients. Therefore, suggesting a protection of telomeric DNA and genomic DNA.

KEYWORDS:

• Sechium edule
• metabolic syndrome
• telomeric length
• oxidative stress
• antioxidants
• markers inflammatory
• telomerase
• aging

Acknowledgments

We appreciate the support from National Council for Science and Technology (CONACyT) for the scholarship granted to Graciela Gavia-García for postdoctoral stay.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

V.M.M.-N designed the study, wrote the manuscript, and analyzed the data. J.R-P., T.L.A.-U., I.A.-S., E.S.-O. and G.G-G. performed the study and analyzed the data. All authors reviewed the final manuscript.

Institutional review board statement

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Ethics Committee of the "National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) - Zaragoza Campus"’.

Informed consent statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [VMM-N], upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by grants from the General Directorate of Academic Personnel Affairs, National Autonomous University of Mexico (DGAPA-UNAM) (PAPIIT IN215821), and the Secretariat of Science and Technology and Innovation Project of Mexico City (SECITI) (SECITI/045/2018).