Night eating habits, sleep quality, and depression, are they associated with vitamin D status?

In addition to the well-established roles of vitamin D on bone health, it also appears to be an effective factor on mental health and circadian behaviors, that include eating and sleeping habits.

This study aimed to assess the association between vitamin D status with night eating habits, sleep quality and depression in female college students.

This cross-sectional study studied healthy female students from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Demographic and anthropometric information as well as data on sleep quality and depression were recorded and serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D were measured. A 3-day food record questionnaire was completed to assess night eating habits. Data analyses were undertaken using Chi-square, Mann-Whitney U test and logistic regression. A P-value of <0.05 was considered significant.

The study participants comprised of 272 female students with median (Inter Quartile Range) age of 22 (21-24) years. The majority of the participants (82.3 %) were classified as night eaters, who had higher rates of poor sleep quality compared to non-night eaters (P < 0.05). With 1 ng/ml increase in serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, the odds of being a night eater fell by 3 % (OR = 0.97; 95%CI = 0.95, 0.99), and the odds of having depression or poor sleep quality decreased by 5 % (OR = 0.95; 95%CI = 0.93, 0.97) and 6 % (OR = 0.94; 95%CI = 0.91, 0.97), respectively.

There was an inverse association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level with night eating habits, depression and poor sleep quality. This association needs be confirmed using cohort and interventional studies.