Association Between Dietary Protein Intake and Sleep Quality in Middle-Aged and Older Adults in Singapore

Clarinda Nataria Sutanto; Wen Wei Loh; Darel Wee Kiat Toh; Delia Pei Shan Lee; Jung Eun Kim

doi:10.3389/fnut.2022.832341

Association Between Dietary Protein Intake and Sleep Quality in Middle-Aged and Older Adults in Singapore

Front Nutr. 2022 Mar 9:9:832341. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.832341. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Clarinda Nataria Sutanto¹, Wen Wei Loh¹, Darel Wee Kiat Toh¹, Delia Pei Shan Lee¹, Jung Eun Kim¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.

Abstract

Poor sleep has been associated with the increased risk of developing detrimental health conditions. Diet and certain nutrients, such as dietary protein (PRO) may improve sleep. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the relationship between PRO intake, their amino acid components, and sources with sleep quality in middle-aged and older adults residing in Singapore. A dataset of 104 healthy subjects between the age of 50 and 75 years old were used. Collected data included 3-day food record and sleep quality [sleep duration, global sleep score (GSS), sleep latency (SL), and sleep efficiency (SE)]. The collected 3-day food records were extracted for PRO, tryptophan (Trp), and large neutral amino acid (LNAA) intake. PRO intake was further categorized into plant and animal PRO. A multivariate multiple linear regression (MLR) was performed to assess the association between PRO intake and sleep quality. Dietary Trp:LNAA ratio was positively associated with sleep duration (β_total: 108.234 h; p: 0.005) after multiple covariates adjustment. Similarly, plant Trp (β_plant: 2.653 h/g; p: 0.020) and plant Trp:LNAA (β_plant: 54.006 h; p: 0.008) was positively associated with sleep duration. No significant associations were observed for both SL and SE. Sleep duration in middle-aged and older Singaporean adults was positively associated with dietary Trp and Trp:LNAA, especially when obtained from plant sources.

Keywords: Trp:LNAA; animal protein; plant protein; plasma amino acid; sleep duration; sleep quality; tryptophan.