Table 3.
Food intake patterns in women in northern Sweden, 1992–2005
| Food intake clusters1 | |||||
| Food group | Fruit and vegetables | High fat | Coffee and sandwich | Tea and ice cream | Overall mean (SD) frequency/day |
| Number of subjects (%) | 4,729 (15) | 10,572 (32) | 9,138 (28) | 8,161 (25) | 32,600 (100) |
| High-fat spreads | - | +++ | -- | - | 0.66 (0.75) |
| Low-fat spreads | - | -- | +++ | - | 0.63 (0.77) |
| Oil | + | - | - | + | 0.28 (0.36) |
| Fat in cooking | - | + | + | - | 0.47 (0.41) |
| Fruit | +++ | - | - | - | 1.14 (0.74) |
| Vegetables | +++ | - | - | - | 1.19 (0.80) |
| Milk, 0.5% | + | - | + | - | 0.39 (0.55) |
| Milk, 1.5% | - | + | + | - | 0.46 (0.54) |
| Milk, 3% | - | + | - | = | 0.32 (0.36) |
| Cream | - | + | = | = | 0.10 (0.11) |
| High-fat cheese | - | + | = | = | 0.43 (0.43) |
| Low-fat cheese | + | - | + | - | 0.24 (0.36) |
| Cold cereals | + | - | + | = | 0.33 (0.31) |
| White bread | - | + | + | - | 0.39 (0.38) |
| High fiber bread | + | - | + | - | 1.29 (0.72) |
| Boiled potato | + | = | = | - | 0.40 (0.24) |
| Fried potatoes | - | + | + | = | 0.06 (0.05) |
| Rice | + | - | = | + | 0.11 (0.11) |
| Pasta | + | - | = | + | 0.14 (0.10) |
| Fish | + | - | = | = | 0.17 (0.10) |
| Red meat | + | - | = | = | 0.30 (0.13) |
| Traditional meat | - | = | = | = | 0.15 (0.07) |
| Chicken | ++ | - | = | = | 0.06 (0.04) |
| Cold cuts | = | - | + | - | 0.33 (0.31) |
| Classic | = | = | = | = | 0.11 (0.06) |
| Sweets | - | + | = | + | 0.14 (0.16) |
| Sugar and jam | - | + | = | - | 0.40 (0.52) |
| Ice cream | = | = | = | + | 0.06 (0.06) |
| Cookies | - | + | + | - | 0.36 (0.33) |
| Snacks | - | = | = | = | 0.05 (0.05) |
| Soda | - | + | = | + | 0.19 (0.26) |
| Beer | = | + | + | = | 0.05 (0.07) |
| Wine | = | - | = | - | 0.05 (0.06) |
| Spirits | = | = | = | = | 0.02 (0.03) |
| Coffee | + | + | +++ | --- | 1.66 (0.95) |
| Tea | - | - | - | ++ | 0.43 (0.54) |
SD, Standard deviation
1 The sign – indicates variation below the mean daily frequency of intake for all women, while + indicates variation above the mean daily frequency of intake for all women. For example, we used + (or -) for 0.1–0.49 SD units (SDUs); ++ (or --) for 0.5–0.99 SDUs; and +++ (or ---) for 1.0–1.99 SDUs. The sign = means equal to mean frequency of intake. For example, for "High-fat spreads", the "Fruit and vegetables" group had a mean intake that was 0.1–0.49 SDUs below the mean intake for all women, i.e., 0.1 × 0.75 – 0.49 × 0.75 below 0.66 times/day, which equals between 0.29 and 0.58 times/day.