Abstract
Shift work has been associated with dietary changes. This study examined factors associated with the dietary profiles of shift workers from several industries (n = 118, 57 male; age = 43.4 ± 9.9 years) employed on permanent mornings, nights, or rotating 8-h or 12-h shifts. The dietary profile was assessed using a Food Frequency Questionnaire. Shift-related (e.g., sleep duration and fatigue), work-related (e.g., industry), and demographic factors (e.g., BMI) were measured using a modified version of the Standard Shift work Index. Mean daily energy intake was 8628 ± 3161 kJ. As a percentage of daily energy intake, all workers reported lower than recommended levels of carbohydrate (CHO, 45%–65%). Protein was within recommended levels (15%–25%). Permanent night workers were the only group to report higher than recommended fat intake (20%–35%). However, all workers reported higher than recommended levels of saturated fat (>10%) with those on permanent nights reporting significantly higher levels than other groups (Mean = 15.5% ± 3.1%, p < 0.05). Shorter sleep durations and decreased fatigue were associated with higher CHO intake (p ≤ 0.05) whereas increased fatigue and longer sleep durations were associated with higher intake of fat (p ≤ 0.05). Findings demonstrate sleep duration, fatigue, and shift schedule are associated with the dietary profile of shift workers.
Highlights
The prevalence of shift work has increased over the past few decades [1]
Very few studies investigating the diet of shift workers have reported the years their participants have been employed on a shift work schedule, the findings from these two studies suggest this should be investigated further as long-term shift work may be associated with increased energy intake
A further four participants were excluded as the work hours they reported classified them as day workers rather than shift workers
Summary
The prevalence of shift work has increased over the past few decades [1]. Shift work has been associated with a number of negative consequences, including circadian disruption, sleep restriction [2,3], and high levels of fatigue [4], leading to detrimental effects for the safety and performance of shift workers [5,6,7,8]. Differences in participant demographics have been noted across studies, including BMI (e.g., within healthy weight range versus overweight participants) [25,28]; sex (e.g., males only versus mixed sex studies) [26,28], and duration of sleep restriction exposure, ranging from one night [26] to five nights [25,28] In addition to these laboratory studies, a review of recent epidemiological studies concluded that sleep restriction was associated with an increase in fat consumption [32]. Very few studies investigating the diet of shift workers have reported the years their participants have been employed on a shift work schedule, the findings from these two studies suggest this should be investigated further as long-term shift work may be associated with increased energy intake. As other work-related and demographic factors have been found to alter dietary intake and composition, these will be examined to determine if they are associated with the dietary profiles of shift workers
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