Association of Aging with Minerals in Male Japanese Adults

In order to examine possible association of aging with minerals, we measured hair concentrations of 24 bio-elements including essential minerals and toxic metals in over 1500 male Japanese adults aged 20-60 years. Several minerals were found to be significantly and positively or inversely correlated to aging. The most age-correlated element was mercury (Hg) with the highest regression coefficient of r = 0.417, followed by boron (B) (r = 0.189), potassium (K) (r = 0.186), arsenic (As) (r = 0.178), selenium (Se) (r = 0.153) and sodium (Na) (r = 0.131) with the p-value of p < 0.0000 for every element. Using the regression equation of Age = 13.9 Log Hg — 12.5 obtained, a 10-fold increase in mercury level was estimated to associate with a 13.9-year increment in aging. The most inverse-correlated mineral to aging was calcium (Ca) (r = -0.207), followed by magnesium (Mg) (r = -0.174), cupper (Cu) (r = -0.147), and zinc (r = -0.105; p < 0.0001). These findings suggest that some minerals contribute to aging and higher dietary mercury intake may be associated with acceleration of aging. Dietary intake of the competitive minerals against mercury, such as calcium, magnesium, cupper and zinc, may be useful for controlling aging in Japanese.