Table 1.
Respondents’ baseline characteristics for the total sample (n = 2025) and divided by presence/absence/suspicion of lactose intolerance, nutrition knowledge (experts/inexperts) and sex
| Total | Lactose tolerant | Suspect intolerant | Lactose intolerant | Inexpert | Nutrition expert | Male | Female | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N = 2025 | N = 913 | N = 401 | N = 711 | N = 1558 | N = 467 | N = 284 | N = 1730 | |
| N (col %) | N (row %) | N (row %) | N (row %) | N (row %) | N (row %) | N (row %) | N (row %) | |
| Gender $ | ||||||||
| Male | 284 (14.0) | 169 (59.5) | 52 (18.3) | 63 (22.2) | 229 (80.6) | 55 (19.4) | – | – |
| Female | 1730 (85.4) | 738 (42.7) | 345 (19.9) | 647 (37.4) | 1320 (76.3) | 410 (23.7) | – | – |
| Age | ||||||||
| 18–34 | 750 (37.0) | 379 (50.5) | 141 (18.8) | 230 (30.7) | 508 (67.7) | 242 (32.3) | 140 (18.7) | 608 (81.1) |
| 35–64 | 1185 (58.5) | 499 (42.1) | 240 (20.3) | 446 (37.6) | 974 (82.2) | 211 (17.8) | 127 (10.7) | 1050 (88.6) |
| 65+ | 90 ( 4.4) | 35 (38.9) | 20 (22.2) | 35 (38.9) | 76 (84.4) | 14 (15.6) | 17 (18.9) | 72 (80.0) |
| Italian region | ||||||||
| North-West | 801 (39.6) | 415 (51.8) | 174 (21.7) | 212 (26.5) | 690 (86.1) | 111 (13.9) | 138 (17.2) | 659 (82.3) |
| North-East | 280 (13.8) | 118 (42.1) | 67 (23.9) | 95 (33.9) | 177 (63.2) | 103 (36.8) | 35 (12.5) | 243 (86.8) |
| Central | 481 (23.8) | 213 (44.3) | 80 (16.6) | 188 (39.1) | 318 (66.1) | 163 (33.9) | 55 (11.4) | 422 (87.7) |
| South | 320 (15.8) | 119 (37.2) | 48 (15.0) | 153 (47.8) | 248 (77.5) | 72 (22.5) | 40 (12.5) | 279 (87.2) |
| Islands | 143 ( 7.1) | 48 (33.6) | 32 (22.4) | 63 (44.1) | 125 (87.4) | 18 (12.6) | 16 (11.2) | 127 (88.8) |
| Education level | ||||||||
| High school or less | 685 (33.8) | 201 (29.3) | 150 (21.9) | 334 (48.8) | 682 (99.6) | 3 ( 0.4) | 94 (13.7) | 587 (85.7) |
| Bachelor’s degree | 450 (22.2) | 235 (52.2) | 92 (20.4) | 123 (27.3) | 285 (63.3) | 165 (36.7) | 71 (15.8) | 379 (84.2) |
| Master’s degree | 698 (34.5) | 371 (53.2) | 120 (17.2) | 207 (29.7) | 443 (63.5) | 255 (36.5) | 87 (12.5) | 605 (86.7) |
| Post-graduate /PhD | 192 ( 9.5) | 106 (55.2) | 39 (20.3) | 47 (24.5) | 148 (77.1) | 44 (22.9) | 32 (16.7) | 159 (82.8) |
| Employment status | ||||||||
| Student | 216 (10.7) | 113 (52.3) | 53 (24.5) | 50 (23.1) | 173 (80.1) | 43 (19.9) | 46 (21.3) | 169 (78.2) |
| Employed | 1541 (76.1) | 730 (47.4) | 299 (19.4) | 512 (33.2) | 1139 (73.9) | 402 (26.1) | 211 (13.7) | 1324 (85.9) |
| Housewife | 96 ( 4.7) | 18 (18.8) | 16 (16.7) | 62 (64.6) | 95 (99.0) | 1 ( 1.0) | 0 ( 0.0) | 95 (99.0) |
| Retiree | 92 ( 4.5) | 31 (33.7) | 22 (23.9) | 39 (42.4) | 85 (92.4) | 7 ( 7.6) | 16 (17.4) | 75 (81.5) |
| Unemployed | 80 ( 4.0) | 21 (26.3) | 11 (13.8) | 48 (60.0) | 66 (82.5) | 14 (17.5) | 11 (13.8) | 67 (83.8) |
| Marital status | ||||||||
| Married | 932 (46.0) | 420 (45.1) | 176 (18.9) | 336 (36.1) | 741 (79.5) | 191 (20.5) | 109 (11.7) | 819 (87.9) |
| Widow(er) | 22 ( 1.1) | 9 (40.9) | 4 (18.2) | 9 (40.9) | 18 (81.8) | 4 (18.2) | 2 ( 9.1) | 20 (90.9) |
| Divorced | 121 ( 6.0) | 49 (40.5) | 29 (24.0) | 43 (35.5) | 103 (85.1) | 18 (14.9) | 11 ( 9.1) | 108 (89.3) |
| Single | 950 (46.9) | 435 (45.8) | 192 (20.2) | 323 (34.0) | 696 (73.3) | 254 (26.7) | 162 (17.1) | 783 (82.4) |
| Lactose intolerance | ||||||||
| No | 913 (45.1) | – | – | – | 544 (59.6) | 369 (40.4) | 169 (18.5) | 738 (80.8) |
| Suspected | 401 (19.8) | – | – | – | 341 (85.0) | 60 (15.0) | 52 (13.0) | 345 (86.0) |
| Confirmed | 711 (35.1) | – | – | – | 673 (94.7) | 38 ( 5.3) | 63 ( 8.9) | 647 (91.0) |
| Nutrition expert | ||||||||
| No° | 1558 (76.9) | 544 (34.9) | 341 (21.9) | 673 (43.2) | – | – | 229 (14.7) | 1320 (84.7) |
| Yes | 467 (23.1) | 369 (79.0) | 60 (12.8) | 38 ( 8.1) | – | – | 55 (11.8) | 410 (87.8) |
$11 responders preferred not to specify their gender
°Include 550 responders interested in nutrition topics