Abstract
Poor sleep has been associated with the increased risk of developing detrimental health conditions. Diet and certain nutrients, such as dietary protein (PRO) may improve sleep. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the relationship between PRO intake, their amino acid components, and sources with sleep quality in middle-aged and older adults residing in Singapore. A dataset of 104 healthy subjects between the age of 50 and 75 years old were used. Collected data included 3-day food record and sleep quality [sleep duration, global sleep score (GSS), sleep latency (SL), and sleep efficiency (SE)]. The collected 3-day food records were extracted for PRO, tryptophan (Trp), and large neutral amino acid (LNAA) intake. PRO intake was further categorized into plant and animal PRO. A multivariate multiple linear regression (MLR) was performed to assess the association between PRO intake and sleep quality. Dietary Trp:LNAA ratio was positively associated with sleep duration (βtotal: 108.234 h; p: 0.005) after multiple covariates adjustment. Similarly, plant Trp (βplant: 2.653 h/g; p: 0.020) and plant Trp:LNAA (βplant: 54.006 h; p: 0.008) was positively associated with sleep duration. No significant associations were observed for both SL and SE. Sleep duration in middle-aged and older Singaporean adults was positively associated with dietary Trp and Trp:LNAA, especially when obtained from plant sources.
Highlights
Sleep is an integral part of our overall health and wellbeing
Current evidence suggested that Trp ingestion through our diet can improve sleep, but it is heavily dependent on its ability to cross the blood brain barrier (BBB) (1)
The association between dietary PRO and amino acids with sleep quality was examined in middle-aged and older Singaporean adults and we found an association between a higher total dietary Trp:large neutral amino acid (LNAA) intake with a better sleep duration
Summary
Sleep is an integral part of our overall health and wellbeing. Good sleep is often characterized as having a sleep duration of 7–9 h/day, a short sleep latency (SL), and a good sleep efficiency (SE) (1). Sleep deprivation has been reported to negatively impact the metabolic, endocrine, and immune system (2) This may be explained by the higher concentration of cortisol associated with sleep deficiency, which may lead to health issues, such as insulin resistance, immune pressure, and inflammation (3). Current evidence suggested that Trp ingestion through our diet can improve sleep, but it is heavily dependent on its ability to cross the BBB (1) This could be one of the potential explanation of result inconsistencies in studies observing the impact of PRO on sleep. The aim of the current study is to investigate the association of PRO intake, their amino acid components, and sources with sleep quality in middle-aged and older adults residing in Singapore. The study analyzes the plasma amino acid concentrations of the recruited study subjects to examine their association with sleep quality
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