TABLE 1.
Correlations between empirically derived dietary patterns and food groups, nutrients, and biomarkers of inflammation in 5089 men and women from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis1
| Pearson correlations with dietary patterns and food groups3 |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pearson correlation with pattern score2 | CRP | IL-6 | Fibrinogen | Homocysteine | ||
| r (% explained score variance) | ||||||
| PCA 1 | 0.104 | 0.097 | 0.0074 | 0.070 | ||
| Food group | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Fats and oils | 0.64 (11.8) | 0.096 | 0.082 | 0.035 | 0.037 | |
| Processed meat | 0.65 (11.2) | 0.080 | 0.090 | 0.0174 | 0.070 | |
| Fried potatoes | 0.60 (9.4) | 0.061 | 0.040 | −0.032 | 0.033 | |
| Salty snacks | 0.50 (6.9) | 0.028 | 0.038 | −0.0174 | 0.038 | |
| Desserts | 0.48 (6.2) | 0.039 | 0.053 | 0.0194 | −0.0044 | |
| Sweet breads | 0.41 (4.8) | 0.057 | 0.069 | 0.0164 | 0.048 | |
| Nutrient5 | — | — | — | — | ||
| Carbohydrate | −0.35 | — | — | — | — | |
| Protein | −0.18 | — | — | — | — | |
| Total fat | 0.40 | — | — | — | — | |
| Saturated fat | 0.47 | — | — | — | — | |
| PUFA | 0.01 | — | — | — | — | |
| MUFA | 0.33 | — | — | — | — | |
| trans Fat | 0.71 | — | — | — | — | |
| Cholesterol | 0.27 | — | — | — | — | |
| Fiber | −0.62 | — | — | — | — | |
| Vitamin E | −0.36 | — | — | — | — | |
| Vitamin C | −0.44 | — | — | — | — | |
| Folate | −0.51 | — | — | — | — | |
| β-Carotene | −0.39 | — | — | — | — | |
| RRR 1 | — | 0.228 | 0.199 | 0.153 | 0.060 | |
| Food group | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Cruciferous vegetables | −0.51 (11.0) | −0.13 | −0.11 | −0.034 | −0.066 | |
| Fats and oils | 0.39 (10.2) | 0.096 | 0.082 | 0.035 | 0.037 | |
| Dark-yellow vegetables | −0.42 (9.7) | −0.11 | −0.094 | −0.0214 | −0.051 | |
| Soy foods and beverages | −0.40 (9.0) | −0.097 | −0.093 | −0.0314 | −0.052 | |
| Processed meat | 0.36 (9.0) | 0.080 | 0.090 | 0.0174 | 0.070 | |
| Nondiet soda | 0.35 (8.4) | 0.072 | 0.082 | 0.046 | 0.052 | |
| Nutrient5 | — | — | — | — | ||
| Carbohydrate | 0.076 | — | — | — | — | |
| Protein | −0.156 | — | — | — | — | |
| Total fat | 0.171 | — | — | — | — | |
| Saturated fat | 0.343 | — | — | — | — | |
| PUFA | −0.109 | — | — | — | — | |
| MUFA | 0.116 | — | — | — | — | |
| trans Fat | 0.306 | — | — | — | — | |
| Cholesterol | 0.063 | — | — | — | — | |
| Fiber | −0.305 | — | — | — | — | |
| Vitamin E | 0.143 | — | — | — | — | |
| Vitamin C | −0.087 | — | — | — | — | |
| Folate | −0.161 | — | — | — | — | |
| β-Carotene | −0.452 | — | — | — | — | |
PCA, principal components analysis; RRR, reduced rank regression; CRP, C-reactive protein; IL-6, interleukin-6; PUFA, polyunsaturated fatty acids; MUFA, monounsaturated fatty acids. P< 0.05 for all correlations except those marked otherwise.
For consistency, Pearson correlations for the 6 food groups explaining the highest percentage of variation in dietary pattern score for each dietary pattern are given [% explained score variance = (correlation coefficient between food group and dietary pattern score) × (standardized βcoefficient for food group regressed on dietary pattern score) × 100].
Because of deviance from normality, CRP, IL-6, homocysteine, and fibrinogen were transformed to the natural log scale before analysis. All values are simple correlations (unadjusted) based on 5053 observations for CRP, 4953 for IL-6, 5073 for homocysteine, and 5054 for fibrinogen.
P > 0.05 (NS).
Partial Pearson correlation coefficients adjusted for total energy (kcal/d).