Whether you’re taking a snooze on a public bus or waking up your loved one, snoring can be a disruptive experience for all involved. But researchers may now have found the best diet to combat this.
People who suffer from the common condition known as obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) are more at risk of high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. That’s because the condition makes them wake up several times during the night, due to loud snoring and their breathing stopping and starting.
The solution? A diet high in vegetables, fruit, whole grains and nuts can help to prevent or treat OSA – according to a new study published in journal ERJ Open Research.
To test this, the researchers from Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia used the data of 14,210 people taking part in the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Participants had to list everything they had eaten over the last 24 hours. The research team then categorised their answers into three dietary patterns: a healthy plant-based diet, an unhealthy plant-based diet, and a diet high in animal products (including animal fat, dairy, eggs, fish and other seafood, and meat).
‘Unhealthy’ plant-based diets included lots of refined carbohydrates (like pasta and bread), potatoes, sugary drinks, sweets, desserts, and salty foods.
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Participants also answered a questionnaire about their sleep, from which the researchers determined whether they were likely to be suffering from OSA.
The researchers found that people with diets high in plant-based food were 19 per cent less likely to suffer from snoring caused by OSA than people with less plant-based food in their diet.
However, eating an unhealthy plant-based diet could have more significant – and, of course, worse – impacts. People eating an unhealthy plant-based diet had a 22 per cent higher risk of OSA compared to people eating less of these unhealthy foods.
The researchers think that healthy plant-based diets are important as they tend to be higher in anti-inflammatory components and antioxidants. These qualities can influence fat mass, inflammation, and even muscle tone, which in turn affect a person's OSA risk.
Lead researcher Dr Yohannes Melaku said: “These results highlight the importance of the quality of our diet in managing the risk of OSA. This research doesn’t tell us why diet is important, but it could be that a healthy plant-based diet reduces inflammation and obesity.”
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