Table 1.
Anthropometrical, clinical and metabolic characteristics of participants, according to tertiles (T) of energy-adjusted fruit and vegetable consumption (n = 120)
| Energy-adj. fruit and vegetable consumption | T1 (n = 39) < 384 g/d |
T2 (n = 42) 384-660 g/d |
T3 (n = 39) > 660 g/d |
P-valuea |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (y) | 21 ± 2b | 21 ± 3 | 21 ± 3 | 0.509 |
| Body mass index (kg/m2) | 22.6 ± 3.0c | 22.4 ± 2.8 | 21.7 ± 2.89 | 0.028 |
| Waist circumference (cm) | 76.8 ± 8.3c | 74.3 ± 8.8 | 70.9 ± 8.3 | 0.025 |
| Systolic BP (mmHg) | 117 ± 11c | 115 ± 11 | 111 ± 10 | 0.015 |
| Diastolic BP (mmHg) | 67 ± 7c | 66 ± 7 | 63 ± 8 | 0.018 |
| Glucose (mg/dl) | 85.8 ± 7.6 | 85.4 ± 9.4 | 85.2 ± 7.3 | 0.155 |
| Insulin (μIU/l) | 7.2 ± 2.9 | 8.2 ± 3.9 | 7.4 ± 3.5 | 0.966 |
| HOMA-IR | 1.6 ± 0.7 | 1.8 ± 0.9 | 1.6 ± 0.7 | 0.662 |
| Total cholesterol (mg/dl) | 175 ± 26 | 179 ± 26 | 169 ± 29 | 0.294 |
| LDL-c (mg/dl) | 102 ± 21 | 104 ± 23 | 101 ± 27 | 0.824 |
| HDL-c (mg/dl) | 60 ± 15 | 61 ± 12 | 56 ± 12.3 | 0.242 |
| Triglycerides (mg/dl) | 67 ± 29 | 71 ± 27 | 63 ± 23 | 0.385 |
| NEFA (mmol/l) | 0.43 ± 0.22 | 0.37 ± 0.14 | 0.32 ± 0.22 | 0.116 |
| CRP (mg/l) | 1.3 ± 0.8 | 1.1 ± 0.8 | 1.0 ± 0.7 | 0.217 |
| Homocysteine (μmol/l) | 15.0 ± 7.6c | 12.6 ± 3.2 | 10.0 ± 3.2 | 0.013 |
| IL6 (pg/ml) | 1.3 ± 0.5 | 1.2 ± 0.6 | 1.2 ± 0.8 | 0.607 |
| TNFα (pg/ml) | 2.3 ± 1.2 | 1.8 ± 1.5 | 1.6 ± 1.2 | 0.577 |
| Self-reported PA n, (%) | 21 (61.5) | 24 (50) | 25 (66) | 0.237 |
| MET (h-week) | 35.7 ± 32.7 | 38.2 ± 27.3 | 42.7 ± 27.5 | 0.480 |
| Smoking Never n, (%) | 22 (56.4) | 28 (66.7) | 27 (71.1) | 0.269 |
| Former n, (%) | 4 (10.3) | 5 (11.9) | 3 (7.9) | |
| Current n, (%) | 13 (33.3) | 9 (21.4) | 8 (21.1) |
aP-value from ANOVA test or χ2 test, for continuous or categorical variables, respectively.
bContinuous variables are presented as mean values ± standard deviation, while categorical variables are presented as absolute number and frequencies.
c P < 0.05, T1 vs. T3; from post hoc Tukey test to correct for multiple comparisons.
BP, blood pressure; HOMA-IR, insulin resistance index; LDL-c, low density lipoprotein-cholesterol; HDL-c, high density lipoprotein-cholesterol; NEFA, non-esterified fatty acid; CRP, C-reactive protein; IL6, interleukin-6; TNFα, tumor necrosis factor-alpha; MET, activity metabolic equivalent.