Table 3.

Distribution of characteristics across categories of the DASH Diet Index Score, IWHS, 1986

	DASH Diet Index Score*
Baseline Characteristic	0.5–3.5	4.0–4.0	4.5–5.0	5.5–6.0	6.5–10.0
N	5017	2543	5100	4292	4041
Age (yrs)	60.7	60.9	61.1	61.4	61.5
BMI (kg/m2)	26.3	26.2	26.0	25.8	25.3
Waist/hip	0.83	0.83	0.82	0.82	0.81
% > high school education	33	38	42	47	53
% current smokers	22	18	16	14	10
% high physical activity	16	21	25	30	40
% drink alcohol (any)	45	48	49	50	51
% multivitamin use	27	30	34	38	43
% hormone replacement therapy	10	10	12	12	14
Fruit (serv/d)	1.7	2.1	2.4	2.9	3.8
Vegetables (serv/d)	2.7	3.1	3.5	3.9	4.6
Total grain (serv/d)	2.9	3.1	3.5	3.9	4.6
Whole grain (serv/d)	0.9	1.2	1.6	2.0	2.6
Total dairy (serv/d)	1.8	2.0	2.2	2.2	2.5
Low fat dairy (serv/d)	0.6	0.8	1.0	1.3	1.6
Total meat (serv/d)	2.2	2.0	1.9	1.8	1.6
Low fat meat (serv/d)	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.4	0.5
Nuts, dry beans (serv/wk)	1.8	2.7	3.1	3.5	4.0
Sweets (serv/wk)	15.2	13.7	12.9	11.9	9.0
Energy intake/(kcal/d)	1778	1756	1815	1832	1863
Total fat (g/d)	76.5	71.7	70.8	66.2	59.7
Fat as % of kcal	39	37	35	32	29
Saturated fat (g/d)	27.6	25.5	25.0	22.9	20.3
Sat fat as % of kcal	14	13	12	11	10
Vit K (mg/d)†	2742	2874	3083	3285	3631
Vit A (IU/d)	8952	10197	11819	13452	16685
Vit C (mg/d)	112	130	148	168	202
Vit E (mg/d)	7.3	7.7	8.5	8.9	9.8
Zinc (mg/d)	12.7	12.1	12.5	12.2	12.3
P (mg/d)	1147	1181	1265	1328	1437
Na (mg/d)	2124	2125	2200	2241	2275
Ca (mg/d)	664	730	806	872	982
Fiber (g/d)	15	17	19	22	26

^*Because of the large sample size, a test of trend in every characteristic across categories of DASH Diet Index Score was significant at p<0.001.

^†Micronutrient values are from diet without supplements.