Table 5.
Sociodemographic, dietary and anthropometric characteristics of low and high vegetable* consumers
| Low vegetable* consumers (n 1407)† | High vegetable* consumers (n 1405)† | P value‡ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vegetable servings/d, mean | 0·4 | 3·1 | <0·001 |
| sd | 0·4 | 1·9 | |
| Vegetable servings/d, median | 0·3 | 2·5 | |
| IQR | 0·0–0·7 | 1·7–3·9 | |
| Age (years), mean | 9·3 | 10·6 | <0·001 |
| sd | 4·9 | 4·8 | |
| Percentage of children who were female,% | 50·7 | 47·3 | 0·040 |
| Energy (MJ), mean | 7·5 | 8·5 | <0·001 |
| sd | 3·0 | 3·4 | |
| Discretionary energy (MJ) | 3·3 | 2·9 | <0·001 |
| sd | 2·5 | 2·3 | |
| Proportion of total energy intake from discretionary foods and beverages (%), mean | 41·2 | 31·9 | <0·001 |
| sd | 21·1 | 18·2 | |
| BMI Z-score, mean | 0·60 | 0·57 | 0·488 |
| sd | 1·22 | 1·13 | |
| Weight status§,% | 0·148 | ||
| Normal | 66·9 | 70·0 | |
| At risk of overweight | 14·1 | 11·6 | |
| Overweight | 19·0 | 18·5 | |
| Waist:height ratio, mean | 0·48 | 0·48 | 0·009 |
| sd | 0·06 | 0·06 | |
| Waist:height category||,% | <0·001 | ||
| Not at risk of metabolic complications | 63·9 | 72·4 | |
| Increased risk of metabolic complications | 36·1 | 27·6 | |
| Socio-economic status,% | 0·246 | ||
| Lowest quintile | 18·3 | 16·4 | |
| Highest quintile | 22·6 | 25·8 | |
IQR, inter-quartile range.
Refers to ‘vegetables and legumes/beans’ as defined by the Australian Dietary Guidelines, and includes potatoes but excludes discretionary vegetables( 14 ).
Low and high consumers defined as below and equal to or above the median intake (1·19 servings/d) respectively.
P values for means tested by one-way ANOVA and for prevalence tested by Chi-square tests.
Based on BMI Z-score: normal (<85th percentile), at risk for overweight (≥85th percentile, <95th percentile), overweight (≥95th percentile)( 33 ).
Based on waist circumference to height ratio: not at risk of metabolic complications (<0·5), increased risk of metabolic complications (≥0·5)( 32 ).