Risk of Dangerous Snoring Increased by Diets High in Processed Foods and Added Sugars: Study Review

To examine the connection between diet and obstructive sleep apnea, researchers used data from over 14,000 people who were participating in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Diet information was provided by the subjects, who were asked to report everything they had eaten over the last 24 hours. Researchers also used a questionnaire to determine if someone had OSA by asking about a number of factors, including snoring, tiredness, blood pressure, body mass index, age, gender, and waist circumference.

After analyzing the relationships between OSA symptoms, risk factors, and diet, and controlling for factors such as age, race, income, smoking, physical activity, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, key findings included:

• People with diets highest in healthy plant-based food were 19 percent less likely to be suffering with OSA, compared with those eating diets lowest in plant-based food. Those eating a largely vegetarian diet were also at a lower risk.

• People eating a diet high in unhealthy plant-based foods had a 22 percent higher risk for OSA compared to those eating the lowest amounts of those foods.

• Diet also seemed to affect women's risk of OSA more. Compared to men, women had a lower risk of OSA if they followed a healthy plant-based diet — but also had a higher risk compared to men if they ate an unhealthy plant-based diet. 

“These results highlight the importance of the quality of our diet in managing the risk of OSA,” says lead author Yohannes Melaku, PhD, a senior research fellow at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. Although the study wasn’t designed to uncover why diet may play a role, previous research has shown that inflammation and high fat mass are important factors that are related to OSA, he says.

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