Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption and Sleep Duration and Quality Among Pregnant Women

Objective: To examine sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption, sleep duration, and quality during pregnancy.

Methods: Pregnant women completed 3 24-hour dietary recalls and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Logistic regression models estimated odds of short sleep duration (< 7 h/night) and poor sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index score > 5) by SSB consumption (servings/d averaged across 3 days).

Results: Participants (n = 108) were a median age of 30 years old (interquartile range [IQR], 26-33) and at 23.9 weeks gestation (IQR, 18.9-30.6). Participants consumed a median of 0.4 servings of SSBs per day on average (IQR, 0-1.1; range, 0-4.6). Fifty-two percent reported poor quality sleep and 38% short sleep. Each additional serving of SSB was associated with higher odds of short sleep (adjusted odds ratio, 1.6; 95% confidence interval, 1.1-2.5) and poor sleep quality (adjusted odds ratio, 2.1; 95% confidence interval, 1.2-3.6).

Conclusions and implications: SSB consumption may be a modifiable risk factor for short/poor sleep during pregnancy. Longitudinal research is needed to explore the interplay between SSB consumption and sleep.