The Association between Rice Intake and Snoring: the Toon Health Study

Background and objectives: Snoring is one of the symptoms of sleep apnea and is associated with various health problems such as hypertension, diabetes and coronary heart diseases. Prevention for snoring is important, but few studies have examined the preventive factors, in particular dietary factors, for snoring. Thus, we aimed to examine the association between rice, which is the major staple food for of Japanese, and snoring. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 2032 Japanese men and women aged 30 to 79 years who participated in the Toon Health Study. Snoring was assessed by a part of Berlin Questionnaire, and we defined snoring as the occurrence of snoring >1 times a week The amount of rice intake was assessed by food frequency questionnaire, and adjusted for energy intake using residual method. The participants were divided into sex-specific quartiles according to rice intake. The multivariable-adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs) of the presence of snoring for the quartiles of rice intake was calculated using logistic regression after adjustment for age, sex, physical activity, current smoking, current drinking, body mass index, energy intake and sleep duration. We also performed a stratified analysis by current drinking status which was strongly associated with snoring. Results: We found an insignificant association between rice intake and snoring in men and women; the OR (95%CIs) for the highest quartile compared to the lowest was 0.80 (95%CI:0.52-1.23, p for trend=0.25) in men, and 0.86 (95%CI:0.60-1.25, p for trend=0.57) in women, respectively. After stratification by current drinking status, we found that the OR for the highest quartile was significantly lower than that for the lowest in women with current drinking; the OR (95%CIs) is 0.51 (0.28-0.95, p for trend=0.08). This association remained significant after further adjustment for ethanol intake. We found an insignificant association between rice intake and snoring in men and nondrinking women. Conclusions: In conclusion, higher rice intake tended to be associated with lower presence of snoring among Japanese women with drinking habit.