Research

Thesis title: Effects of shift work on body composition, sensory performance and dietary behaviour.

Thesis outline

Background: In Europe, an average of 17% of the population work shifts and 14% of the population regularly work shifts that last longer than 10 hours. Shift work has been identified in the literature as an independent risk factor for numerous chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus, overweight, obesity, sleep disorders and high blood pressure. At the same time, increased inflammatory markers were also measured among people working shifts. Sensory perception, i.e. the comprehensive sensory perception of food, is a new, still little researched field in addition to all the risk factors mentioned above. Although studies already show correlations between dietary behavior, weight and sensory perception, they are sometimes controversially debated. However, there is hardly any data available on this topic in the specific context of shift work.
The PhD thesis is being developed within the EU-funded project SHIFT2HEALTH where a cross-sectional study (n=1000) in five European countries will be conducted to investigate the relationships between shift work, nutritional behaviour and health in general.

Overall objective of the PhD thesis

The main research question is:

• Is there a relationship between anthropometric data, food choice, sensory perception and relevant metabolic markers in shift workers?

The sub-research questions are:

• What is the impact of shift work on body composition and dietary behaviour of individuals in the industrial sector and the health sector, respectively?
• Is there a connection between shift work, specifically body composition of shift workers, and their sensory performance in relation to the sense of smell and taste?
• Is there an impact of shift work on selected biomarkers of metabolic and inflammatory profile in relation to anthropometric data?

The aim is to investigate to what extent shift work in the health and industrial sector affects anthropometric parameters such as body composition, waist and hip circumference or BMI, eating behaviour and, in particular, cravings and sensory performance. Furthermore, nutrition-related biomarkers such as CRP, glucose and blood lipid levels are to be analysed and placed in the context of shift work, body composition and sensory performance. The objective is to compare people with and without night shifts. To do so, data of the cross-sectional study of the Shift2Health project will be analysed.

Supervisor: Karl-Heinz Wagner, Advisor: Marlies Wallner(FH Joanneum)

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