Mixed
Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is associated with older age, male gender, and Caucasian race, but its value as a general biomarker of overall human aging or age-related disease is equivocal and heavily debated due to conflicting epidemiological data.
Do not rely on leukocyte telomere length testing as a definitive measure of your biological age or health risk. Current science shows it correlates with age, sex, and race, but results are inconsistent across studies and methods. Focus on established health behaviors rather than this unproven biomarker.
In this review, we address the epidemiologic data on LTL and demonstrate that shorter LTL is associated with older age, male gender, Caucasian race, and possibly atherosclerosis; associations with other markers of health are equivocal.
Why this rating
The paper is a review of epidemiological studies with conflicting results and methodological inconsistencies, preventing a high-confidence conclusion on LTL's utility as a universal biomarker.
Source
Telomere Length in Epidemiology: A Biomarker of Aging, Age-Related Disease, Both, or Neither?
Jason L. Sanders et al. · Epidemiologic Reviews · 2013
DOI 10.1093/epirev/mxs008
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