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Plant-Based Diets: Reducing Cardiovascular Risk by Improving Sleep Quality?

  • Sleep and 3D (Cancer, Cardiovascular, Metabolic Diseases) (D Gozal, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Sleep Medicine Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

The goal of this review is to evaluate recent research related to the effects of plant-based diets on sleep patterns. We discuss plausible mechanisms for the link between plant-based diets and sleep and provide suggestions for future research in this area.

Recent Findings

Short sleep duration and poor sleep quality have been shown to negatively affect individual dietary habits, through enhanced appetite and increased overall caloric intake, as well as lower diet quality. Emerging data also indicate a novel bi-directional association by which dietary choices may also influence sleep duration and quality, but little is known about dietary patterns and their influence on sleep. Epidemiological studies report associations between Mediterranean diet eating patterns and sleep quality, suggesting a benefit of plant-rich diet consumption on sleep. The high isoflavone and tryptophan content of these diets may be a mechanism by which plant foods may enhance sleep quality.

Summary

Plant-based diets may provide additional benefits to health via their potential effects on sleep quality. Research is needed to establish a causal relation between a plant-rich dietary pattern and sleep health.

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Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance

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Funding

This work is supported in part by an American Heart Association Go Red for Women Strategically Focused Research Network grant (16SFRN27960011 [BA] and 16SFRN27950012 [MPSO]) and NIH R01 HL128226 (MPSO).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Columbia University Medical Center, 1150 St. Nicholas Avenue, room 121H, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Marie-Pierre St-Onge, Allison Crawford & Brooke Aggarwal

  2. Institute of Human Nutrition, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    Marie-Pierre St-Onge

Authors
  1. Marie-Pierre St-Onge
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  2. Allison Crawford
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marie-Pierre St-Onge.

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Conflict of Interest

Allison Crawford declares no conflicts of interest.

Marie-Pierre St-Onge reports grants from the American Heart Association and grants from the National Institutes of Health, during the conduct of the study.

Brooke Aggarwal reports grants from the American Heart Association, during the conduct of the study.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Additional information

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Sleep and 3D (Cancer, Cardiovascular, Metabolic Diseases)

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St-Onge, MP., Crawford, A. & Aggarwal, B. Plant-Based Diets: Reducing Cardiovascular Risk by Improving Sleep Quality?. Curr Sleep Medicine Rep 4, 74–78 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40675-018-0103-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40675-018-0103-x

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