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Clinical Summary

Is sleep duration associated with fruit and vegetable intake?

Takeaway

  • Non-linear association was seen between sleep duration and self-reported fruit and vegetable (FV) intakes and their associated biomarkers.
  • Reference sleepers (RS, Participants with a sleep of 7-8 hours/day) had the highest FV intake and levels of associated biomarkers compared with short sleepers (SS, <7hours/day) and long sleepers (LS, >8 hours/day).

Why this matters

  • Sleep duration has been declining recently among UK adults with 70% sleeping less than 7 hours/ night. In addition, intake of FV is also on the decline.
  • If results are confirmed in interventional studies, this would highlight the importance of translating the scientific evidence focusing on the relationship between sleep and diet into practical messages that can help the public to prevent chronic diseases.

Study design

  • Cross-sectional study used data from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (n=1612, age 19-65 years) to evaluate the association between sleep and diet in United Kingdom adults.
  • Sleep duration was divided into: short (<7 hours/day, n=539), reference (7–8 hours/day, n=788) and long (>8 hours/day, n=285) sleep periods.
  • Funding: None disclosed.

Key results

  • Restricted cubic spline models showed non-linear association between sleep duration and FV intakes (P<.001) with RS having the highest intakes.
  • In adjusted models, LS consumed on average 28 g/day (P=.01) vs RS, whereas short sleepers (SS) consumed 24 g/day less (P=.006) and had lower levels of FV biomarkers (total carotenoids, beta-carotene, and lycopene) compared to RS. 
  • Non-linear association was seen between sleep duration and plasma total carotenoids (P=.0035), plasma vitamin C (P=.009) and lycopene (P<.001) and the levels were highest in the RS group.

Limitations

  • Self-reported sleep duration.
  • Risk for bias.

References


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