Sleep Quality and Fruit/Vegetable Intake
Although consuming large amounts of fruits and vegetables is known to prevent death from disease and other causes, the association between sleep and fruit and vegetable consumption has not been well characterized. This study aims to investigate the cross-sectional and prospective association between sleep duration and fruit and vegetable intake among women in the UK. They say this is the first study to demonstrate the expected association between sleep duration and fruit and vegetable consumption.
The cross-sectional, prospective data will be
obtained from a cohort study of women in the UK, where sleep duration was assessed by self-reported average sleep duration on weekdays and weekends, and diet was assessed by a 4-day food diary at baseline and follow-up (approximately 4 years later).
Sleep duration was categorized as short (≤6 h/d), recommended (7-9 h/d), and long (≥9 h/d), and a restricted cubic spline model was developed to investigate potential nonlinear associations between sleep duration and fruit and vegetable intake, using regression analysis adjusting for age, socioeconomic status, smoking, ethnicity, and total energy intake.
Results.
In an adjusted cross-sectional analysis, we found that
People with short sleep duration averaged 17 g/d (95% CI -30 to -4, p = 0.01)
Those with longer sleep duration averaged 25 g/d (95% CI -39 to -12, p < 0.001).
and the total amount of fruits and vegetables was low compared to the recommended RS. An adjusted prospective analysis also found that those who slept less had a lower intake of fruits and vegetables, on average 85 g/d, compared to the RS.
In a restricted cubic spline model, the cross-sectional and expected associations between sleep duration and fruit and vegetable intake were non-linear, with women who slept 7-9 hours/day having the highest fruit and vegetable intake.
And the dietary tendencies of those who slept too little or too much also included a significantly higher tendency to over-calorie and snack on snacks, a result that suggested that BMI levels were also related to time.
In Japan, it is recommended to eat 350 grams of vegetables and 200 grams of fruit a day, but the people who slept for the recommended amount of time in this study did not meet those requirements.
However, other factors may affect the amount of time we sleep, so we should only know this as an indicator.
Noorwali, E.A., Hardie, L.J. & Cade, J.E. Recommended sleep duration is associated with higher consumption of fruits and vegetables; cross-sectional and prospective analyses from the UK Women and prospective analyses from the UK Women's Cohort Study. Sleep Science Practice 2, 13 (2018). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s41606-018-0032-0
Conclusion
The results showed that people who slept too short or too long had a lower intake of fruits and vegetables than those who slept the recommended amount of time. The biomarkers also showed different levels of serum vitamin C, with those who slept the recommended amount of time having significantly higher levels than the rest of the population.
However, there are some limitations to this conclusion: What about complete vegetarians? What about post-menopausal people with different hormonal balance? The conclusions do not include such questions as, "What about complete vegetarians? Additional research is needed to include such things.
