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. 2020 Mar 1;150(3):592-598.
doi: 10.1093/jn/nxz286.

Plasma DHA Is Related to Sleep Timing and Duration in a Cohort of Mexican Adolescents

Erica C Jansen  1   2 , Deirdre A Conroy  3 , Helen J Burgess  3 , Louise M O'Brien  3   4 , Alejandra Cantoral  5 , Martha María Téllez-Rojo  6 , Karen E Peterson  1 , Ana Baylin  1   7
Affiliations

Plasma DHA Is Related to Sleep Timing and Duration in a Cohort of Mexican Adolescents

Erica C Jansen et al. J Nutr. .

Abstract

Background: Delayed sleep timing and short sleep duration represent a significant public health burden in adolescents. Whether intake of nutrients affects the pineal gland, where sleep/wake cycles are regulated, remains unclear.

Objectives: In a cross-sectional analysis, we investigated whether plasma concentrations of DHA and arachidonic acid (AA), long-chain fatty acids that can be obtained through diet, were related to sleep timing and duration in adolescents.

Methods: The study population included 405 Mexico City adolescents (mean age ± SD = 14.2 ± 2.1 y; 48% males) who took part in a 2015-2016 follow-up visit as a part of an ongoing cohort study. Fatty acid concentrations were measured in plasma using GLC, as a percentage of total fatty acids. Sleep midpoint and duration were assessed with 7-d wrist actigraphy. We categorized DHA and AA plasma concentrations into quartiles (Q1-Q4; Q4 = highest fatty acids). We conducted cross-sectional linear regression analysis with sleep characteristics as separate outcomes and quartiles of DHA and AA as exposures, adjusting for sex, age, and BMI z-scores.

Results: Mean ± SD plasma DHA (as percentage of total fatty acids) was 1.2 ± 0.4%, whereas mean ± SD plasma AA was 6.2 ± 1.5%. In adjusted analysis, higher plasma DHA was linearly associated with longer sleep duration on the weekends; to illustrate, those in Q4 compared with Q1 had 32 min longer duration (95% CI: 7, 57; P trend = 0.005). Higher DHA was also associated with earlier sleep timing during weekdays and weekends, although in a nonlinear fashion. The largest difference was a 0.75-h (45-min) later sleep midpoint in Q2 compared with Q4 (95% CI: 0.36, 1.14).

Conclusions: Plasma DHA was associated with earlier sleep timing and longer weekend sleep duration in Mexican adolescents. Whether DHA supplementation improves sleep in adolescent populations deserves consideration in randomized trials.

Keywords: Mexico; actigraphy; arachidonic acid; docosahexaenoic acid; sleep quality.

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