. 2012 Oct 24;142(12):2161–2166. doi: 10.3945/jn.112.165498

TABLE 1.

Characteristics of the InCHIANTI study population (>65 y) at baseline according to MDS¹ ²

		MDS
Characteristics	Total sample	≤3	4–5	≥6
n	690	202	299	189
Age, y	73.0 ± 6.24	74.1 ± 6.91^a	73.2 ± 6.24^a	71.5 ± 5.15
Female, %	51.7	50.5	56.5	45.5
Education, y	6.16 ± 3.54	6.37 ± 4.17^a	5.88 ± 3.16^a	6.38 ± 3.38^a
Smoking status, %
Nonsmoker	54.4	54.0	56.5	51.3
Former smoker	29.3	26.7	28.8	32.8
Current smoker	16.4	19.3	14.7	15.9
MMSE score	26.8 ± 1.77	26.6 ± 1.70^a	26.8 ± 1.77^a	26.9 ± 1.84^a
BMI, kg/m²	27.5 ± 3.89	26.8 ± 4.29^a	27.6 ± 3.92^b	28.1 ± 3.30^b
Chronic disease present, %	59.4	53.4	60.5	63.4
Medication use, %
Type 2 diabetes	6.23	6.93	5.69	6.35
Hypertension	41.9	38.1	43.5	43.4
Vegetables, g/d	188 ± 96.1	138 ± 69.6^a	180 ± 86.3^b	252 ± 99.7^c
Legumes, g/d	17.0 ± 10.6	12.3 ± 7.76	18.1 ± 11.6^a	20.4 ± 9.83^a
Fruit and nuts, g/d	310 ± 147	255 ± 120^a	313 ± 149^b	364 ± 151^c
Cereals, g/d	248 ± 98.5	228 ± 89.9^a	245 ± 100^a	275 ± 99.3
Fish and seafood, g/d	24.1 ± 17.5	17.2 ± 12.6^a	25.3 ± 18.6^b	29.7 ± 17.9^c
Milk and dairy products, g/d	176 ± 155	206 ± 141^a	183 ± 191^a	137 ± 82.7
Meat and meat products, g/d	105 ± 45.1	106 ± 43.0^a	104 ± 45.5^a	107 ± 46.9^a
Monounsaturated:saturated lipids ratio	1.53 ± 0.36	1.31 ± 0.25^a	1.54 ± 0.34^b	1.75 ± 0.36^c
Alcohol, g/d	16.4 ± 21.2	15.2 ± 22.3^a	16.5 ± 22.8^a	17.3 ± 16.8^a
Energy, kcal/d	1970 ± 565	1850 ± 517^a	1950 ± 581^a	2140 ± 547
Carbohydrate, g/d	114 ± 50.1	235 ± 71.9^a	252 ± 81.3^a	281 ± 80.7
Protein, g/d	76.4 ± 21.1	74.0 ± 19.6^a	75.8 ± 21.8^a	79.7 ± 21.0
Fat, g/d	66.1 ± 20.5	62.2 ± 18.2^a	65.1 ± 20.8^a	71.9 ± 21.1
Monounsaturated lipids, g/d	33.2 ± 11.1	29.4 ± 8.96^a	32.6 ± 10.7^b	38.2 ± 12.0^c
Saturated lipids, g/d	22.3 ± 7.66	22.9 ± 7.58^a	22.0 ± 8.03^a	22.3 ± 7.14^a
Dietary fiber, g/d	20.0 ± 5.59	16.7 ± 4.38^a	20.0 ± 5.16^a	23.4 ± 5.31^a
β-Carotene equivalents, μg/d	2230 ± 1190	1780 ± 917^a	2150 ± 1060^b	2830 ± 1380^c
Vitamin E, mg/d	6.33 ± 1.93	5.40 ± 1.64^a	6.26 ± 1.74^b	7.43 ± 1.93^c
Vitamin C, mg/d	114 ± 50.2	91.3 ± 39.9^a	113 ± 47.5^b	140 ± 52.2^c
Vitamin D, μg/d	1.85 ± 0.79	1.74 ± 0.77^a	1.87 ± 0.82^a	1.92 ± 0.73^a
Vitamin B-6, mg/d	1.68 ± 0.49	1.53 ± 0.43^a	1.68 ± 0.50^b	1.85 ± 0.46^c
Folic acid, μg/d	263 ± 77.6	229 ± 63.2^a	260 ± 76.1^b	303 ± 76.4^c

Values are percentage or mean ± SD. Means that have no superscript in common are significantly different from each other, (P < 0.05, after Tukey-Kramer adjustment for multiple comparisons). MDS, Mediterranean Diet Score; MMSE, Mini Mental State Examination.

For categorical variables, including smoking and chronic disease status and medication use, homogeneity across strata tested with χ² test showed P > 0.05.