The Association between Melatonin-Containing Foods Consumption and Students’ Sleep–Wake Rhythm, Psychoemotional, and Anthropometric Characteristics: A Semi-Quantitative Analysis and Hypothetical Application

Abstract

Food is an important source of melatonin (MT), which belongs to a group known as chronobiotics, a class of substances that affect the circadian system. Currently, no studies have been conducted on how the consumption of foods containing MT (FMT) is associated with indicators characterizing the human circadian system. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that FMT consumption is associated with chronotype and social jetlag. A total of 1277 schoolchildren and university students aged M (SD) 19.9 (4.1) years (range: 16–25 years; girls: 72.8%) participated in a cross-sectional study. Each participant completed an online questionnaire with their personal data (sex, age, height, weight, waist circumference, and academic performance) and a sequence of tests to assess their sleep–wake rhythm (the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire), sleep quality (the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), and depression level (the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale). Study participants also completed a modified food frequency questionnaire that only included foods containing MT (FMT). They were asked how many foods containing MT (FMT) they had eaten for dinner, constituting their daily serving, in the past month. The consumption of foods containing MT (FMT) during the day (FMTday) and at dinner (FMTdinner) was assessed using this test. Multiple regression analyses were performed to assess the association between the studied indicators. We found that higher FMTday values were associated with early chronotype (β = −0.09) and less social jetlag (β = −0.07), better sleep quality (β = −0.06) and lower levels of depression (β = −0.11), as well as central adiposity (β = −0.08). Higher FMTdinner values were associated with a lower risk of central adiposity (β = −0.08). In conclusion, the data obtained confirm the hypothesis that the consumption of foods containing MT (FMT) is associated with chronotype and social jetlag in adolescents and young adults.