Table 1.
Formation of the CAIDE midlife healthy-diet index
| Food consumption | Pointsa |
|
|---|---|---|
| men | women | |
| Beneficial components | 1 point, if … | 1 point, if … |
| Vegetables and roots | ≥1 time per week | ≥3 times per week |
| Berries and fruits | ≥1 time per week | ≥3 times per week |
| Bread | ≥5 slices per day | ≥3 slices per day |
| Fish (in subsample only)b | ≥1 time a week | ≥1 time per week |
| Coffee | ≥4 cups a day | ≥3 cups per day |
| MUFA from milk products and spreadsc | ≥11.2 g per day | ≥6.13 g per day |
| PUFA from milk products and spreadsc | ≥2.06 g per day | ≥1.04 g per day |
| Detrimental/unhealthy components | ||
| Sausage foods | <twice per month | <once per month |
| Eggs (boiled, fried) | <2 per week | <2 per week |
| Candies | never | never |
| Sweet soft drinks | never | never |
| Sugar lumps in tea and coffee | <6 lumps per day | <2 lumps per day |
| Salty fish (in subsample only) | <once per month | <once per month |
| SFA from milk products and spreadsc | <19.5 g per day | <10.2 g per day |
| Alcohol drinkingd | moderate drinking (1–60 g per week) | moderate drinking (1–24 g per week) |
| Use of salt on the dining table | not adding salt to meals | not adding salt to meals |
| Type of fats used for cooking | vegetable oil or margarine | vegetable oil or margarine |
| Type of fats used for baking | vegetable oil or margarine | vegetable oil or margarine |
Total score indicating adherence to healthy diet: 0–8 points = low adherence; >8 points = high adherence.
One point for each variable was given if a person had a consumption level at or above the sex-specific median level for the beneficial component, and below the sex-specific median for detrimental components. For variables where medians were not used, a favorable consumption pattern was given 1 point. For alcohol drinking, moderate drinking was defined as drinking below the sex-specific median among drinkers. Both non-drinkers and heavy drinkers had 0 points.
In the calculation of the diet index, information on salty fish consumption was available for subjects included in 1982 and fish consumption for subjects included in 1987. Therefore, there were 17 items available for each subject.
For example, 5 g of spread (margarine containing 60% fat) contains 1.2 g MUFAs, 0.9 g PUFAs, and 0.7 g SFAs (values may vary depending on product), and 1 glass (2 dl) of semi-skimmed milk (1.5% fat) contains 0.7 g MUFAs, 0.1 g PUFAs, and 2.1 g SFAs.
One glass of wine or 1 shot of liquor contains on average 12 g of alcohol, 1 bottle of beer contains 12.5 g and 1 bottle of long drink contains 14.5 g of alcohol.