Abstract
BackgroundThe relationship between sleep duration and food intake is unclear. This study aims to examine the relationship among children aged 6–17 years in China.MethodsThe sample consisted of 70,519 children aged 6–17 years, which were randomly selected from 7 representative areas from China, from September to November, 2013. In the structured questionnaire, children reported daily sleep hours (less than 7 h, 7–9 h and more than 9 h), weekly food intake amount (including vegetables, fruit, sugar beverages and meat), physical activity and sedentary time. The relationship of sleep duration with vegetable, sugar beverage, fruit and meat intake was evaluated by multi-nominal logistic regression and multi-variable adjusted.ResultsA total of 62,517 children (51.6% boys) completed the study. Short sleep duration (SSD, < 7 h) was independently associated with increased sugar beverage intake (SBI, Odd Ratio, OR: 1.29, 95% CI: 1.19–1.40) but decreased vegetable (VI, OR: 0.94, 95% CI: 0.90–0.98) & fruit intake (FI, OR: 0.94, 95% CI: 0.88–0.99). Stratified by age and gender, SSD increased SBI for boys of both young (6–12 years) & older (13–17 years) groups and older girls (ORs: 1.25, 1.25, 1.49, 95% CI: 1.08–1.44, 1.04–1.50, 1.22–1.81, respectively), but decreased VI and FI for older girls (ORs: 0.84& 0.81, 95% CI: 0.74–0.96& 0.68–0.96, respectively).ConclusionsAmong school-aged children in China, short sleep duration was associated with increased risks of more sugar beverage intake among those younger and boys but less vegetable & fruit intake among those older and girls. Longitudinal research is needed to clarify the causation in between.
Highlights
The relationship between sleep duration and food intake is unclear
Certain studies affirm a linkage between short sleep and specific behaviour changes, such as less physical activity, highly sedentary behaviour [7], and food intake [9]. This affirmation is based on energy balance hypothesis, which elucidates that short sleep causes additional energy expenditures, thereby causing the body to automatically reserve energy via reducing activity and increasing food intake [10]
We aim to examine the relationship between different sleep durations and food intakes among Chinese schoolchildren and further explore the gender- and age-dependent effect thereof
Summary
The relationship between sleep duration and food intake is unclear. The average sleep duration has been decreasing worldwide for decades [2] as a marker of modern society progress. Certain studies affirm a linkage between short sleep and specific behaviour changes, such as less physical activity, highly sedentary behaviour [7], and food intake [9]. This affirmation is based on energy balance hypothesis, which elucidates that short sleep causes additional energy expenditures, thereby causing the body to automatically reserve energy via reducing activity and increasing food intake [10]
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