Teenagers who do not get enough sleep tend to make unhealthier food choices, a new study has found.

US scientists looked at the relationship between sleep duration and food choices in over 13,200 teenagers, with an average age of 16.

The study divided the teenagers into three groups:
-Short sleepers (less than seven hours per night)
-Mid-range sleepers (seven to eight hours per night)
-Recommended sleepers (more than eight hours per night).

They found that one in six teenagers were ‘short sleepers', sleeping for less than seven hours per night and they were more likely to eat fast food at least twice a week compared to their more well-rested peers. They were also less likely to eat healthy foods, such as fruit and vegetables.

The scientists took into account factors such as age, gender, physical activity levels and socioeconomic status, but found that sleep duration had an independent effect on food choices.

"Not only do sleepy teens on average eat more food that's bad for them, they also eat less food that is good for them. While we already know that sleep duration is associated with a range of health consequences, this study speaks to some of the mechanisms, i.e. nutrition and decision making, through which health outcomes are affected," commented lead scientist, Dr Lauren Hale, of Stony Brook University School of Medicine.

The scientists said that they looked at this issue because adolescence ‘is a critical development period between childhood and adulthood'.

"Teenagers have a fair amount of control over their food and sleep and the habits they form in adolescence can strongly impact their habits as adults," they noted.

They suggested that tackling the issue of sleep deprivation may contribute to obesity prevention.

Their findings were presented at SLEEP 2013, the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Baltimore.