Trial reportPsychoneuroendocrinology2012
Changes in stress, eating, and metabolic factors are related to changes in telomerase activity in a randomized mindfulness intervention pilot study.
Trial report in Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 64 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
64 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 158 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions on inflammaging: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Biogerontology · 2025Pooled it
- A systematic review on the effectiveness of unstandardized mindfulness interventions in improving dietary and physical activity outcomes in healthy adults.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Meditation for the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Weight-neutral interventions in young people with high body mass index: A systematic review.Nutrition & dietetics : the journal of the Dietitians Association of Australia · 2023Pooled it
- How Effective Are Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Reducing Stress and Weight? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Third-wave cognitive behaviour therapies for weight management: A systematic review and network meta-analysis.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2020Pooled it
- Mindfulness meditation and the immune system: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2016Pooled it
- PBMC telomerase activity in depression and the response to electroconvulsive therapy.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2021Trial
- Improvement in indices of cellular protection after psychological treatment for social anxiety disorder.Translational psychiatry · 2019Trial
- Weight Loss Maintenance and Cellular Aging in the Supporting Health Through Nutrition and Exercise Study.Psychosomatic medicine · 2018Trial
- The effects of acceptance and commitment therapy on eating behavior and diet delivered through face-to-face contact and a mobile app: a randomized controlled trial.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2018Trial
- Effects of Meditation and Music-Listening on Blood Biomarkers of Cellular Aging and Alzheimer's Disease in Adults with Subjective Cognitive Decline: An Exploratory Randomized Clinical Trial.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2018Trial
- Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in Women with Overweight or Obesity: A Randomized Clinical Trial.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2017Trial
- Leukocyte telomere length and depression, anxiety and stress and adjustment disorders in primary health care patients.BMC psychiatry · 2017Trial
- A mindfulness-based intervention to control weight after bariatric surgery: Preliminary results from a randomized controlled pilot trial.Complementary therapies in medicine · 2016Trial
- Variation in the oxytocin receptor gene moderates the protective effects of a family-based prevention program on telomere length.Brain and behavior · 2016Trial
- Dietary inflammatory index and telomere length in subjects with a high cardiovascular disease risk from the PREDIMED-NAVARRA study: cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses over 5 y.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2015Trial
- A small randomized pilot study of a workplace mindfulness-based intervention for surgical intensive care unit personnel: effects on salivary α-amylase levels.Journal of occupational and environmental medicine · 2015Trial
- Influence of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on telomerase activity in women with breast cancer (BC).Biological research for nursing · 2014Trial
- Mindfulness-based intervention for prodromal sleep disturbances in older adults: design and methodology of a randomized controlled trial.Contemporary clinical trials · 2014Trial
4 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPsychological distress and metabolic dysregulation are associated with markers of accelerated cellular aging, including reduced telomerase activity and shortened telomere length. We examined whether participation in a mindfulness-based intervention, and, secondarily, improvements in psychological distress, eating behavior, and metabolic factors are associated with increases in telomerase activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs).
methodsWe enrolled 47 overweight/obese women in a randomized waitlist-controlled pilot trial (n=47) of a mindfulness-based intervention for stress eating and examined changes in telomerase activity from pre- to post-intervention. In secondary analyses, changes in telomerase activity across the sample were examined in relation to pre- to post-intervention changes in psychological distress, eating behavior, and metabolic factors (weight, serum cortisol, fasting glucose and insulin, and insulin resistance).
resultsBoth groups increased in mean telomerase activity over 4 months in intent-to-treat and treatment efficacy analyses (p<0.001). Nonsignificant trends showed that greater attendance was associated with increases in telomerase, and telomerase increases were 18% higher among 'as treated' participants compared to controls. Across groups, changes in chronic stress, anxiety, dietary restraint, dietary fat intake, cortisol, and glucose were negatively correlated with changes in telomerase activity. In exploratory analyses, decreases in dietary fat intake partially mediated the association between dietary restraint and telomerase activity with marginal significance.
conclusionsWhile there was no clear effect of the intervention on telomerase activity, there was a striking pattern of correlations between improvements in psychological distress, eating behavior, and metabolic health and increases in telomerase activity. These findings suggest that telomerase activity may be in part regulated by levels of both psychological and metabolic stress.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.