“Evaluate whether diet can contribute to poor or good quality sleep”
“At a time when more and more foods are highly processed and sleep disorders are rampant, it is important to assess whether the diet can contribute poor or good quality sleep“, explains Marie-Pierre St-Onge, specialist in nutrition and sleep at Columbia University (United States) and co-author of a new study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
The researchers, led by a team from Sorbonne Paris Nord University, examined data collected from 38,570 adults, matching information on diet and sleep variables. On average, study participants got 16% of their daily energy from an ultra-processed diet. 19.4% of participants had symptoms of chronic insomniaa group that tended to consume more ultra-processed products.
A stronger association in men
Note that after taking into account sociodemographic factors, lifestyle, diet quality and mental health, the association was slightly stronger in men. While the study relied on participant self-reports, the large number of people involved suggests that this is a connection that merits further research in the future. We will also need to understand how this type of diet prevents us from sleeping.
The study was carried out as part of the NutriNet-Santé research project, which involves a large number of volunteers followed for years and whose objective is to study nutrition-health relationships.
Some of the same researchers had already established a link between the Mediterranean diet and a lower risk of insomnia so this new study seems to present the other side of this relationship.