FOODS that are Linked to Daytime Fatigue

Hourglass on table with coffee cup and sleeping person in background — Photo: MiniStocker / Shutterstock

New research suggests that everyday foods like cheese, cured meats, eggs, and milk may be quietly adding to America’s daytime exhaustion, but the science is far more complicated than the headlines admit.

Story Snapshot

A new metabolite study ties certain foods to excessive daytime sleepiness, mainly through tyramine and sphingomyelins.
Media lists “11 foods that cause fatigue,” but the full list and dose details are missing and the data are only observational.
Sleep problems and hormones appear to drive much of the effect, raising doubts that these foods alone “cause” tiredness.
Broader research shows overall diet pattern and sleep quality matter more than any single food on a “bad list.”

What This New Study Really Found About Food and Daytime Sleepiness

Researchers studying excessive daytime sleepiness looked at blood from large groups of adults and found seven metabolites linked to feeling too sleepy during the day. Two stood out because they are tied to common foods: tyramine, which shows up in fermented and overripe foods like aged cheeses and cured meats, and sphingomyelins, which are fats found in eggs, milk, and meat. Media outlets turned this into lists of “11 foods” that make you tired, but the underlying study itself does not spell out such a simple list.

The headline claim rests mainly on tyramine. Reports say tyramine was linked to more drowsiness, especially in men, and is found in aged cheeses, cured and processed meats, yeast-extract spreads, pickled or salted fish, and dried or overripe fruits. Experts quoted in these stories add that fermented foods high in tyramine may disrupt brain chemicals like serotonin and melatonin, which guide sleep and wake cycles. This explanation, however, comes from dietitians giving their best guess, not from direct lab proof in people.

Sleep Traits and Hormones in the Background

The strongest counterpoint is inside the sleep science data itself. In a conference abstract from the same research program, tyramine O-sulfate was linked to higher sleepiness scores in men, but that link weakened after researchers adjusted for sleep traits like sleep quality and possible sleep disorders. This suggests that poor sleep may change metabolite levels, rather than food changing metabolites which then cause sleepiness. Other work shows that when people are sleep deprived, a large share of their metabolites shift across the day, supporting the idea that bad sleep can reshape the metabolome.

The main paper also points to steroid hormone biosynthesis as a shared pathway under the metabolites tied to sleepiness. That means hormones like cortisol and sex hormones may be central drivers. If hormonal shifts cause both sleep problems and metabolite changes, then blaming cheese or eggs alone misses the bigger story. A press release on the study stresses “biological clues” and mentions diet, but it does not claim that eating certain foods directly causes excessive daytime sleepiness. This is a key gap between cautious science and bold media framing that many readers never see.

Where the “11 Tiring Foods” Story Overreaches the Science

The public-facing articles talk about “11 foods linked to daytime fatigue,” but they only clearly name a handful of tyramine-rich foods plus eggs, milk, and meat. None provide a full eleven-item list backed by the study data, and none state how much of any one food raises risk. The research is observational, meaning it watches patterns rather than testing cause in controlled trials. That kind of study can show links, but it cannot prove that removing aged cheese or salami from your plate will make you more alert at work.

Other diet–sleep studies give a more mixed picture. One study in healthy adults found that higher overall fat intake was tied to more daytime sleepiness, while higher carbohydrate intake was tied to greater alertness. Another group reported that diets high in saturated fat and simple carbohydrates were associated with more daytime drowsiness, while higher protein intake seemed protective. These results focus on broad diet patterns, not single “villain foods,” and they line up better with long-term fatigue research showing that inflammation and poor-quality diets sap energy over time.

What This Means for Tired Americans

It is easy to see a list of “11 bad foods” and think the solution is simple: cut those items and fix your fatigue. Yet the evidence here says the problem is deeper. Overall diet quality, sleep health, stress, and hormones all play major roles, and those are shaped by work schedules, medical access, and food environments that many ordinary families cannot control easily.

The bigger concern is how media and industry spin complex science into quick tips. Nutrition misinformation experts warn that “simplistic conclusions drawn from a complex study” are a red flag. That fits this case well. The metabolite findings are real and worth more research, including trials that test whether cutting tyramine-heavy or sphingomyelin-rich foods truly changes sleepiness. But until those studies exist, lists of “11 foods that cause daytime fatigue” promise more certainty than the data can honestly give.