Associations between Red Meat Intake and Sleep Parameters in Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Although lifestyle changes have been investigated as a therapeutic choice in regard to obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) severity, data exploring associations between apnea and hypopnea indices and dietary habits are scarce.

The aim was to investigate possible relationships between apnea and hypopnea indices and red meat intake in a cohort of Greek patients with mild or moderate to severe OSA evaluated by polysomnography.

This is a cross-sectional study. Data were collected from November 2014 through July 2018.

The sample consisted of 243 patients (21 to 70 years old) who were recently diagnosed with OSA, by overnight attended polysomnography in the Sleep Disorders Center of "Evangelismos" Hospital, Athens Medical School (Greece). The patients included were free of other chronic diseases and had not changed their dietary habits for at least 6 months before evaluation.

Information on participants' dietary intake, food group consumption, physical activity, smoking, sleep habits, and anthropometric measures were collected. Dietary intake was evaluated by food frequency questionnaire and 24-hour dietary recalls. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was also evaluated using the Mediterranean Diet Score.

General linear models were used to examine the relation between red meat intake and sleep parameters, while adjusting for potential confounders. Multiple logistic regression was also applied to estimate the association between red meat intake and the likelihood of severe OSA.

Higher intakes of total red meat and unprocessed red meat were associated with higher values of apnea and hypopnea indices, after controlling for age, sex, waist circumference, socioeconomic parameters, smoking, physical activity, adequacy of nighttime sleep, and intake of foods or food components in the Mediterranean diet other than red meat (P trend for increasing quartiles of intake ≤0.02). Compared with patients in the lowest quartile of energy-adjusted total red meat intake (≤0.59 servings/day per 1,000 kcal), patients in the highest quartile (≥1.18 servings/day) had three times higher likelihood of having severe OSA (odds ratio: 3.09, 95% CI: 1.17 to 8.14).

The results provide evidence of a positive association between total red meat and unprocessed red meat intake with apnea or hypopnea indices and suggest that red meat consumption is associated with OSA severity.