New study results show that short sleep duration causes an increase in abdominal fat in young adults. Abdominal fat is one of the main causes of developing diabetes. Kristen G. Hairston, MD( Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina) and his colleagues conducted a study in 332 African Americans and 775 Hispanic Americans, aged 18 to 81 years. The study subjects were previously enrolled in the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study (IRAS) Family study.

     The goal of this study was to determine the association of 5-year change in computed tomography (CT)–derived visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) with sleep duration in these two minority groups in the US67.

     Based on a questionnaire the researchers categorized the participants as those who have sleep duration of 5 hours or less , 6 to 7 hours, and 8 hours or more. They have also considered age, race, sex, study site, baseline fat measure, physical activity, total calories, smoking status, and education when calculating the association between sleep and abdominal fat deposition.

     The results showed that participants who sleep less than 5 hours consumed more total calories (2224 kcal) than those reporting 6 to 7 hours (1920 kcal) or 8 hours of sleep or more (2199 kcal). In participants older than 40 years, there was no significant association between sleep duration and change in fat deposition .