Unhealthy diet linked to poor sleep in T1D

People with type 1 diabetes (T1D) commonly experience sleep disruption, which has been linked to unhealthy dietary choices in a cross-sectional study.

The study included 59 men and 58 women with T1D, between 19 and 79 years of age, who were on continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) and insulin pump. Researchers assessed the participants’ dietary habits using a 7-day food diary and the EPIC questionnaire, as well as sleep quality using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index questionnaire. Blood glucose after dinner (6 h) was also evaluated.

Under two-thirds of the participants reported having poor sleep quality (n=81, 69.2 percent), and the remaining participants reported having good sleep quality (n=36, 30.8 percent). Those with poor sleep quality had a significantly higher intake of fat at dinner (mean, 30.7 vs 24.0 g; p=0.004).

When participants were grouped based on sleep duration, those who slept less consumed greater amounts of coffee and tea (90.4 vs 62.0 g/1,000 kcal; p<0.05), alcoholic drinks (47.8 vs 28.9 g/1,000 kcal; p<0.05), and carbonated beverages (21.8 vs 9.3 g/1,000 kcal; p<0.05) compared with their counterparts who slept longer.

In the sleep onset latency category, participants with long sleep onset latency had significantly higher fat intake at dinner than those with short sleep onset latency (41.8 vs 38.1 percent of total energy intake; p=0.029).

Postdinner blood glucose levels did not significantly differ between participants with good and poor sleep quality.