[Associations among physical condition, life hour, and dietary intake male Japanese shift workers: physical condition and lifestyle survey of male Japanese shift workers].
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to understand the actual state of life hours (working time, sleep time, and time of meal intake) and dietary habits of male shift work employees, and to elucidate the impact of working arrangements and dietary habits on their physical condition and health problems.


METHODS
The subjects were 187 male employees (aged 18-64 years) working for an industrial company in Toyama prefecture. We used a self-administered questionnaire to assess dietary habit, lifestyle habits, and life hours at the time of a periodic health examination in April 2013. The subjects were grouped based on their working condition (i.e., day shift, late shift, and late-night shift) into two groups of day shift (n = 107) and shiftwork (n = 80). The proportion of time spent sleeping and feeding was determined in half hour increments, and the incidences of skipping meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and midnight snack intake were calculated for each working condition. We also examined the association between the frequency of eating and physical condition for each working condition.


RESULTS
The state of life hours of the shiftwork group during the day was similar to that of the day shift group. However, the workers' state of life hours, incidences of skipping meals, and midnight snack intake varied considerably when working at the other shift times. In the shiftwork group, regardless of the working patterns, the BMI and % body fat of the group that ate more than three times a day were significantly lower than those of the group that ate less than twice a day.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of the present study suggest that it is difficult to ensure the time and opportunity for meals for shift workers. We consider that it is necessary to prevent them skipping of meals, and to support a proper dietary intake during the night.
Department of Food and Human Health Science, Osaka City University Graduate School of Human Life Science, Japan, 3-3-138 Sugimoto, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka 558-8585, Japan.
Tomoe
T
Fukumura
Katsushi
K
Yoshita
Masaji
M
Tabata
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D004435:Eating / Q000502:physiology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016272:Occupational Health; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013995:Time; D014937:Work / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D014940:Work Schedule Tolerance / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult