Relationship between dietary carotenoid intake and sleep duration in American adults: a population-based study

Nutr J. 2023 Dec 8;22(1):68. doi: 10.1186/s12937-023-00898-x.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the relationship between dietary carotenoid intake and sleep duration.

Methods: Adults enrolled in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2007-2018 without missing information on dietary carotenoid intake (α-carotene, β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, and lutein + zeaxanthin), sleep duration, and covariates were included. Participants' carotenoid consumption was divided into three groups by quartiles and sleep duration was grouped as short (< 7 h/night), optimal (7-8 h/night), and long (> 8 h/night). Multinominal logistic regression was constructed to examine the association between dietary carotenoid intake and sleep duration. Restricted cubic spline (RCS) regression was further utilized to explore their dose-response relationship. The weighted quantile sum (WQS) model was adopted to calculate the mixed and individual effect of 5 carotenoid sub-types on sleep duration.

Results: Multinominal logistic regression presented that people with higher intakes of α-carotene, β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, and lutein + zeaxanthin were less likely to sleep too short or too long. Consistent with the findings from multinominal logistic regression, the RCS models suggested a reverse U-shaped relationship between sleep duration and carotenoid intakes. The mixed effects were also significant, where β-cryptoxanthin and lutein + zeaxanthin were the top 2 contributors associated with the decreased risks of short sleep duration, while β-carotene, α-carotene, and β-cryptoxanthin were the main factors related to the lower risk of long sleep duration.

Conclusion: Our study revealed that the American adults with optimal sleep duration were associated with more dietary carotenoid intake, in comparison to short or long sleepers.

Keywords: American adults; Carotenoids; NHANES; Sleep duration.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Beta-Cryptoxanthin
  • Carotenoids
  • Diet
  • Humans
  • Lutein*
  • Lycopene
  • Nutrition Surveys
  • Sleep Duration
  • United States
  • Zeaxanthins
  • beta Carotene*

Substances

  • alpha-carotene
  • Lycopene
  • beta Carotene
  • Lutein
  • Zeaxanthins
  • Beta-Cryptoxanthin
  • Carotenoids