Sleep and meal timing influence food intake and its hormonal regulation in healthy adults with overweight/obesity

Abstract

Background: Studies associate sleeping and eating late in the day with poor dietary quality and higher obesity risk but differences in sleep duration confound this association. We aimed to determine whether sleep and meal timing, independent of sleep duration, influenced food intake in healthy adults. Methods: This was a controlled, 2×2 inpatient crossover study with normal (0000-0800h) or late (0330-1130h) sleep and normal (1, 5, 11, and 12.5h after awakening) or late (4.5, 8.5, 14.5, and 16h after awakening) meals. Food intake was controlled while blood samples were obtained for determination of appetite-regulating hormones on days 3-4. Self-selected food intake was assessed on day 5. Data were analyzed using linear mixed model analysis with sleep, meal, and sleep × meal interaction as dependent variables. Results: Five participants completed all phases (mean age 25.1 ± [SD] 3.9y, body mass index 29.2 ± 2.7kg/m 2). There was a significant sleep × meal interaction on energy intake (P=0.035) and trends on fat and sodium intakes (P<0.10). Overnight ghrelin concentrations were higher under normal sleep and meal conditions relative to late (P<0.005) but lower when both were combined (P<0.001). Overnight leptin concentrations were higher under normal meal conditions (P=0.012). There was a significant sleep × meal interaction on ghrelin (P=0.032) and glucagon-like peptide 1 (P=0.041) concentrations, but not leptin (P=0.83), in response to a test meal. Conclusions: Our results suggest that alignment of sleep and meals may influence food choice and energy balance. Additional research is necessary to expand and confirm our findings.

The influence of sleep health on dietary intake: a systematic review and meta‐analysis of intervention studies

“…The 24 included articles were published in the English language between 2006 and 2019 (see Supporting information, Table S4). The studies were conducted in seven countries: USA (n = 15) (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(26)(27)(28)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36) , Germany (n = 3) (37)(38)(39) , UK (n = 2) (40,41) , Japan (n = 1) (42) , Canada (n = 1), France (n = 1) and Thailand (n = 1).…”

“…In total, 614 participants (282 male) were included in the analyses of studies and the total sample sizes ranged from 6 to 66 (31,36) . The mean (SD) age of participants ranged from 19.0 (0.9) (34) to 41.7 (10.3) years (33) .…”

“…Four studies included male participants exclusively (6,37,39,43) , four studies included only female participants (27,33,38,42) and 16 studies included both male and female participants (7)(8)(9)(10)(11)26,28,31,32,(34)(35)(36)40,41,44,45) . Body mass index (BMI) was reported in all 24 studies and mean BMI was <25 kg m -2 (normal BMI range) in 16 studies (6)(7)(8)11,31,32,34,35,37,(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45) and >25 kg m -2 (overweight/ obese BMI range) in seven studies (9,10,26,28,33,36,38) . One study compared dietary outcomes in both healthy weight and overweight participants (27) , one study compared dietary outcomes by sex…”

“…Included studies were 11 randomised cross-over studies (6,9,11,28,33,36,37,(42)(43)(44)(45) , five non-randomised cross-over studies (8,27,35,39,40) , five RCTs (two-arm) (7,10,31,32,41) and three pre-post studies (26,34,38) . Of the 24 studies, 13 were conducted in a laboratory (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)26,28,(31)(32)(33)36,37) , six in a free-living setting (27,34,38,41,42,45) and five in a mixed setting (35,39,40,43,44) . The studies conducted in a mixed setting were all cross-over studies where participants spent part of the experiment in a laboratory (i.e.…”

The Challenge of Maintaining Metabolic Health During a Global Pandemic

“…The interaction of diet and meal timing with sleep is a relatively new area of research and likely influences sleep quality and quantity. Evidence suggests that some nutritional interventions may impact sleep [54] and that alignment of sleep and meal times may influence food choices and energy balance in a bi-directional manner [55]. Finally, given the associations between poor sleep and obesity, insulin resistance and reduced glycemic control [56,57], optimising sleep is likely to play a very significant role in the maintenance of metabolic health.…”