Sex-Specific Negative Association between Iron Intake and Cellular Aging Markers: Mediation Models Involving TNFα

Table 1

Basic characteristics of the study population.

Parameters	Women	Men	value
(%)	306 (65.5%)	161 (34.5%)	—
Age (years)			0.113
Body mass index (kg/m^2)			0.169
LTL^a			0.276
Log2 (mtDNAcn)^b			0.01
Hypertension (, %)	151 (49.7%)	82 (51.3%)	0.746
HbA1c (%)			0.942
LnTG (mmol/L)			0.205
HDL-C (mmol/L)			0.101
TNFα (pmol/mL)			0.084
SOD (U/mL)			0.845
Energy intake (kcal/d)			<0.001
Carbohydrate proportions			0.633
Iron intake (mg/d)^c			<0.001
Iron intake (mg/d)^d			0.258
Iron intake (mg/1000 kcal)^e			0.350

LTL: leukocyte telomere length; mtDNAcn: mitochondrial DNA copy number; HbA1c: hemoglobin A1c; TG: triglyceride; HDL-C: high-density cholesterol lipoprotein; TNFα: tumor necrosis factor-α; SOD: superoxide dismutase. ^aLTL was adjusted by age; ^bmtDNAcn was adjusted by age; ^ciron intake was not adjusted; ^diron intake was adjusted by energy intake; ^eiron intake was calculated as per 1000 kcal energy intake. All variables are presented as .