Table 2. Baseline characteristics by dietary pattern quartiles (Q).

	Meat – dim sum		Vegetable – fruit – soy
	Q1	Q4	Q1	Q4
Person years (No.)	153 028	148 434	156 658	144 410
Median age (interquartile range) years	59 (13)	53 (11)	57 (14)	54 (12)
Male (%)	31.2	59.6	47.9	43.4
Hokkien dialect group (%)	56.0	52.9	58.9	50.1
Highest level of education (%)
No formal education	37.8	17.3	34.2	21.5
Primary education	41.8	45.6	44.1	43.9
Secondary education or higher	20.4	37.1	21.7	34.6
Body mass index, kg per m 2 (%)
<20.0	15.2	15.5	15.7	15.3
20.0–24.0	56.7	52.1	56.1	52.2
24.1–28.0	21.4	24.8	21.4	25.3
>28.0	6.8	7.6	6.8	7.3
Any weekly physical activity (% yes)	29.9	37.6	26.4	38.7
Smoking index (%)
Never	77.4	60.7	62.0	73.7
Light	20.0	34.2	32.9	23.4
Heavy	2.7	5.1	5.0	2.9
Alcohol consumption (%)
Nondrinkers	90.9	68.9	81.5	79.4
<7 drinks per week	7.1	22.6	12.6	16.1
⩾7 drinks per week	2.0	8.5	5.9	4.4
Green tea intake (%)
None	67.2	50.9	69.7	48.6
Monthly	10.1	12.4	10.3	12.3
Weekly	12.5	22.2	10.9	23.3
Daily	10.2	14.4	9.1	15.9
Diabetes (% yes)	10.4	7.7	9.6	8.4
Median daily intake (interquartile range)
Energy, kcal	1165 (472)	1947 (780)	1211 (576)	1800 (772)
Saturated fat, g per 1000 kcal	7.3 (3.2)	10.4 (3.2)	8.0 (3.4)	9.7 (3.6)
Polyunsaturated fat (PUFA), g per 1000 kcal	4.4 (2.5)	5.0 (1.9)	4.1 (1.9)	5.5 (2.7)
Marine n-3 PUFA, g per 1000 kcal	0.18 (0.13)	0.18 (0.10)	0.16 (0.12)	0.19 (0.12)
Total n-6 PUFA, g per 1000 kcal	3.9 (2.4)	4.4 (1.8)	3.6 (1.8)	4.8 (2.5)