The rise in the prevalence of obesity has been paralleled with a decline in sleep duration over the past centuryReference Kant and Graubard1. Disrupted sleeping patterns are emerging as a new and potentially important risk factor for obesityReference Patel and Hu2. Short sleep duration and poor sleep quality have been associated with increased food intake and poorer diet qualityReference Beydoun3. However, the association between sleep and nutritional status remains underexplored. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between sleep duration and nutritional status in 2075 participants of the cross-sectional National Diet and Nutrition Survey Rolling Programme (NDNS-RP) (2008–2012) aged 18 years and overReference Bates4. Sleep duration was categorized into short (⩽6 h), normal (7–8 h), and long (⩾9 h). Dietary intake was assessed using 4-day estimated food diaries and nutritional status was assessed using biomarkers in fasting blood samples and/or 24HR urine. Differences between the sleep categories were analysed using ANCOVA adjusting for sex, age and energy intake. Results showed that energy intake was significantly higher amongst normal sleepers (1742 ± 520kcal) compared to short (1677 ± 569kcal) or long sleepers (1583 ± 448kcal). Normal sleep was also associated with higher fibre intake (p < 0·001), higher vitamin C intake (p = 0·04) and higher iron intake (p < 0·001) compared to short or long sleep. Data from the nutritional biomarkers showed that normal sleepers tended to have higher total plasma carotenoids levels (p < 0·001), plasma selenium (p = 0·01) and urinary nitrogen levels (p = 0·03) compared to short or long sleepers. No associations were found for plasma ferritin (p = 0·59), vitamin B1 (p = 0·31), vitamin B2 (p = 0·95), vitamin B6 (p = 0·07), retinol (p = 0·42), 25-hydroxy-vitamin-D (p = 0·35), vitamin C (p = 0·09), alpha-tocopherol (p = 0·60), zinc (p = 0·15) nor urinary sodium (p = 0·19) or potassium (p = 0·15).
In conclusion, normal sleepers tended to have a marginally different dietary intake pattern as well as some differences in nutritional status compared to short or long sleepers. Our group is currently undertaking more in-depth analysis of the NDNS sleep data and dietary intake.