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Interventions and public health nutrition

The effects of partial sleep deprivation on energy balance: a systematic review and meta-analysis

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 71, pages 614–624 (2017)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

It is unknown whether short sleep duration causatively contributes to weight gain. Studies investigating effects of partial sleep deprivation (PSD) on energy balance components report conflicting findings. Our objective was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of human intervention studies assessing the effects of PSD on energy intake (EI) and energy expenditure (EE).

Subjects/Methods:

EMBASE, Medline, Cochrane CENTRAL, Web of Science and Scopus were searched. Differences in EI and total EE following PSD compared with a control condition were generated using the inverse variance method with random-effects models. Secondary outcomes included macronutrient distribution and resting metabolic rate. Heterogeneity was quantified with the I2-statistic.

Results:

Seventeen studies (n=496) were eligible for inclusion in the systematic review, and 11 studies (n=172) provided sufficient data to be included in meta-analyses. EI was significantly increased by 385 kcal (95% confidence interval: 252, 517; P<0.00001) following PSD compared with the control condition. We found no significant change in total EE or resting metabolic rate as a result of PSD. The observed increase in EI was accompanied by significantly higher fat and lower protein intakes, but no effect on carbohydrate intake.

Conclusions:

The pooled effects of the studies with extractable data indicated that PSD resulted in increased EI with no effect on EE, leading to a net positive energy balance, which in the long term may contribute to weight gain.

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Acknowledgements

The authors’ responsibilities were as follows: GP and JD designed the study, HA, SH, JD, and GP performed the literature search and the meta-analysis. GP and JD had primary responsibility for final content. All authors were substantially involved in the writing process. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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  1. J Darzi and G K Pot: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Diabetes and Nutritional Sciences Division, School of Life Sciences and Medicine, King’s College London, London, UK

    H K Al Khatib, S V Harding, J Darzi & G K Pot

  2. VU University Amsterdam, Health and Life, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Amsterdam, Netherlands

    G K Pot

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  1. H K Al Khatib
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Correspondence to G K Pot.

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Al Khatib, H., Harding, S., Darzi, J. et al. The effects of partial sleep deprivation on energy balance: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Eur J Clin Nutr 71, 614–624 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2016.201

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