Table 2.
Descriptive characteristics of diet quality groups
| Characteristic | Diet quality groups | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (most healthy) | 2 | 3 | 4 (least healthy) | P for trend | |
| Males (%) | 23.9 | 37.4 | 48.2 | 72.5 | <0.001 |
| Age (years, mean) | 45.0 | 42.8 | 42.1 | 41.4 | 0.010 |
| White ethnicity (%) | 95.1 | 95.4 | 95.6 | 94.6 | 0.941 |
| Non-manual workers (%) | 72.5 | 63.0 | 62.4 | 48.4 | <0.001 |
| Vegetarian (%) | 11.4 | 4.6 | 5.5 | 1.4 | <0.001 |
| Body mass index (kg/m2, mean) | 26.4 | 26.1 | 26.8 | 27.0 | 0.312 |
| Energy consumption (kcal/day, mean) | 1667 | 1844 | 2013 | 2324 | <0.001 |
| Average WXYfm score, across all foods consumed in 7 days: | 4.6 | 6.1 | 7.4 | 8.2 | <0.001 |
| N | 184 | 307 | 346 | 280 | |
Lower WXYfm scores indicate healthier foods. Respondents split into diet quality groups by quartiles of the Diet Quality Index score. The term ‘vegetarians' include all those who identified themselves as either vegetarian or vegan, and therefore include some individuals who consume fish or white meat.