Palaeolithic diet and obstructive sleep apnoea in overweight females: A randomised controlled trial

Background: Sleep apnoea is common in females, especially in overweight females after menopause. Aims: To study the effect of a palaeolithic diet on sleep apnoea and daytime sleepiness in overweight females. Methods: Seventy obese, healthy, postmenopausal females were randomised to a palaeolithic diet based on lean meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruits, berries and nuts, or to a control low-fat diet for two years. They were investigated with ambulatory sleep apnoea recordings and subjective sleepiness scales at baseline and after two years. Results: The apnoea-hypopnoea index in the palaeolithic group did not differ from the control diet at the two-year follow-up -0.8 (95% CI -3.8 to 5.3)and the index did not differ from baseline 0.6 (95% CI -2.6 to 3.7), despite a difference in mean weight change of -3.2 (95% CI -5.9 to -0.5) kg, p=0.021 compared with the control diet and a mean weight difference of -7.0 (95% CI -9.0 to -5.1) kg, p Conclusions: A palaeolithic diet has no effect on sleep apnoea or daytime sleepiness among overweight females, despite significant weight loss. Change in weight was not related to change in apnoea-hypopnoea index.