Abstract
Background: Diet has been the major focus of attention as a leading risk factor for non-communicable diseases, including mental health disorders. A large body of literature supports the hypothesis that there is a bidirectional association between sleep and diet quality, possibly via the modulation of neuro-inflammation, adult neurogenesis and synaptic and neuronal plasticity. In the present study, the association between dietary total, subclasses of and individual (poly)phenols and sleep quality was explored in a cohort of Italian adults. Methods: The demographic and dietary characteristics of 1936 adults living in southern Italy were analyzed. Food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) were used to assess dietary intake. Data on the (poly)phenol content in foods were retrieved from the Phenol-Explorer database. The Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index was used to measure sleep quality. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to test the associations. Results: A significant inverse association between a higher dietary intake of lignans and inadequate sleep quality was found. Additionally, individuals with the highest quartile of hydroxycinnamic acid intake were less likely to have inadequate sleep quality. When individual compounds were taken into consideration, an association with sleep quality was observed for naringenin and apigenin among flavonoids, and for matairesinol among lignans. A secondary analysis was conducted, stratifying the population into normal weight and overweight/obese individuals. The findings in normal weight individuals showed a stronger association between certain classes of, subclasses of and individual compounds and sleep quality. Notably, nearly all individual compounds belonging to the lignan class were inversely associated with inadequate sleep quality. In the overweight/obese individuals, there were no associations between any dietary (poly)phenol class and sleep quality. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that a higher dietary intake of certain (poly)phenols may be associated with better sleep quality among adult individuals.
Highlights
Diet has been the focus of major attention as a leading risk factor for non-communicable diseases [1,2]
When individual compounds were taken into consideration, inverse associations with inadequate sleep quality were observed for naringenin
The findings in normal weight individuals showed a stronger association between certain classes, subclasses and individual compounds and sleep quality (Table 3)
Summary
Diet has been the focus of major attention as a leading risk factor for non-communicable diseases [1,2]. Among the healthy dietary patterns suggested for their putative influence on sleep quality, plant-based foods, including vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds, legumes and fruits, have demonstrated to have a mechanistic relationship with better mental health, potentially influencing sleep features [12]. Those foods are rich sources of bioactive compounds that, in the context of a healthy lifestyle, may play a potential role in preventing subclinical low-grade inflammation, a starting point for several chronic non-communicable diseases as well as for impaired sleep quality and duration [14,15]. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to test the associations
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