Association between maternal fermented food consumption and child sleep duration at the age of 3 years: the Japan Environment and Children’s Study

BACKGROUND: Using cohort data from the Japan Environment and Children’s Study (JECS), we previously reported that the risk of sleep deprivation in 1-year-old children was reduced with a higher maternal intake of fermented foods, particularly miso. The present study, which evaluates children from the same cohort at 3 years of age, is a continuation of that work. METHODS: After applying exclusion criteria to 104,062 records in the JECS dataset, we evaluated 64,200 mother-child pairs in which the child was 3 years old. We examined the association of the dietary intake of fermented foods during pregnancy with child sleep duration < 10 h at the age of 3 years. RESULTS: Multivariable logistic regression analysis with the lowest quartile used as a reference revealed adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for the second through fourth quartiles of 0.98 (0.90–1.06), 0.93 (0.85–1.01), and 0.85 (0.78–0.94) for cheese intake. CONCLUSIONS: The consumption of fermented foods during pregnancy is associated with reduced risk of sleep deprivation in 3-year-old children, albeit in a limited way. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-022-13805-6.