Sleep deprivation is frequently associated with an unhealthy diet. So far, most studies used reported sleep duration. We assessed the associations between objectively measured sleep duration and dietary intake.
Cross-sectional study conducted between 2009 and 2013 on 1910 participants (49.5% women, 58.3 ± 11.0 years) living in Lausanne, Switzerland. Total sleep time (TST) was assessed using polysomnography and categorized into <7, 7-9 and >9 hours/day. Total energy, macro and micronutrients intake, dietary adequacy scores and compliance to Swiss dietary recommendations were assessed.
There were 60.6%, 37.2% and 2.2% of the participants in the categories <7, 7-9 and >9 h/day, respectively. Body mass index was higher in the >9 h/d sleep category. After multivariate adjustment, significant (p < 0.05) differences were found between sleep categories regarding total carbohydrates (46.6 ± 8.6, 46.0 ± 8.8 and 48.1 ± 8.0% of total energy intake for <7, 7-9 and >9 h/day, respectively), mono and disaccharides (22.7 ± 8.0, 22.4 ± 8.3 and 25.2 ± 8.8), and total fat (33.9 ± 6.4, 34.7 ± 6.9 and 34.2 ± 5.8). No association was found for total energy intake, other nutrients, dietary adequacy scores, dietary patterns or compliance to dietary guidelines. The differences in mono and disaccharides were found in women and the differences in total fat in men, although sex-diet intake interactions were not significant. Sensitivity analyses excluding participants with sleep apnea, using quartiles of TST or subjective sleep duration yielded similar conclusions.
Little if no associations were found between objectively measured TST and dietary intake in a Swiss general adult population. The associations with total carbohydrate, mono and disaccharide and total fat intake deserve further investigation.