TABLE 1.

Participant demographics, lifestyle characteristics, and food intakes across quartile (Q) of telomere length in 840 men and women from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis¹

	Telomere length				P for trend across quartiles3
	Q1 (0.37–0.72 [0.65])2	Q2 (0.72–0.83 [0.78])	Q3 (0.83–0.96 [0.88])	Q4 (0.95–1.75 [1.06])
Age	65.3 ± 0.74	62.4 ± 0.7	60.6 ± 0.7	57.6 ± 0.7	<0.001
Age-adjusted characteristics
Sex (% male)	58.4	52.6	46.0	36.3	<0.001
Race-ethnicity (%)					0.58
Whites	11.7	20.2	23.6	19.2
Blacks	33.5	26.4	24.6	24.1
Hispanics	54.7	53.4	51.8	56.7
Yearly gross family income (% <$25 000)	37.6	42.9	41.3	39.6	0.89
Education (% ≥high school)	76.3	75.1	70.6	68.4	0.04
Smoking (%current)	11.0	13.3	11.9	9.9	0.63
Cigarette pack-years (n)	9.7 ± 1.1	9.5 ± 1.1	7.2 ± 1.1	5.8 ± 1.1	0.006
Active leisure time (MET-min/wk)	2495 ± 223	2435 ± 219	2422 ± 219	2450 ± 223	0.93
Inactive leisure time (MET-min/wk)	1749 ± 73	1694 ± 72	1653 ± 72	1470 ± 73	0.006
BMI (kg/m2)	29.0 ± 0.4	28.3 ± 0.4	29.4 ± 0.4	28.9 ± 0.4	0.55
Waist circumference (cm)	100.5 ± 1.0	98.6 ± 0.9	100.3 ± 0.9	99.5 ± 1.0	0.97
Energy intake (kcal)	1717 ± 55	1734 ± 54	1678 ± 54	1592 ± 55	0.11
Age- and energy-adjusted food group intake (servings/d)
Whole grains	0.57 ± 0.04	0.55 ± 0.04	0.63 ± 0.04	0.55 ± 0.04	0.71
Refined grains	1.34 ± 0.05	1.37 ± 0.05	1.35 ± 0.05	1.39 ± 0.05	0.62
Fruit	1.85 ± 0.11	1.96 ±0.11	1.97 ± 0.11	1.95 ± 0.11	0.96
Vegetables	2.41 ± 0.10	2.19 ± 0.09	2.26 ± 0.09	2.44 ± 0.10	0.47
Low-fat dairy	0.73 ± 0.07	0.75 ± 0.07	0.66 ± 0.07	0.68 ± 0.07	0.94
High-fat dairy	0.66 ± 0.05	0.64 ± 0.05	0.61 ± 0.05	0.66 ± 0.05	0.43
Seeds or nuts	0.21 ± 0.03	0.28 ± 0.03	0.25 ± 0.03	0.23 ± 0.03	0.80
Nonfried fish	0.28 ± 0.02	0.22 ± 0.02	0.21 ± 0.02	0.21 ± 0.02	0.04
Red meat	0.33 ± 0.02	0.35 ± 0.02	0.35 ± 0.02	0.37 ± 0.02	0.42
Processed meat	0.19 ± 0.02	0.13 ± 0.02	0.12 ± 0.02	0.11 ± 0.02	0.001
Fried foods	0.22 ± 0.02	0.21 ± 0.02	0.20 ± 0.02	0.22 ± 0.02	0.68
Coffee	0.97 ± 0.09	0.97 ± 0.09	1.06 ± 0.09	0.97 ± 0.09	0.95
Nondiet soda	0.39 ± 0.07	0.41 ± 0.07	0.41 ± 0.07	0.48 ± 0.07	0.46
Age- and energy-adjusted dietary patterns (composed of summed intake of 47 weighted food groups)5
Fats and processed meat	−0.17 ± 0.05	−0.27 ± 0.05	−0.24 ± 0.05	−0.33 ± 0.05	0.05
Whole grains and fruit	0.03 ± 0.07	−0.06 ± 0.06	0.11 ±0.06	−0.03 ± 0.07	0.79

¹MET, metabolic equivalent.

²Telomere length (T/S ratio) range; median in brackets (all such values).

³Calculated with telomere length modeled as a continuous variable.

⁴$\stackrel{‒}{x}$ ± SE (all such values).

⁵By design, dietary patterns derived by principal components analysis have a $\stackrel{‒}{x}$ = 0.0 and SD = 1.0.