Table 2. Demographic, reproductive and lifestyle characteristics of participants by equol and O-DMA phenotypes.
| Non-Equol producers | equol producers | P | Non-O-DMA producers | O-DMA producers | P | ||
| Demographic and reproductive characteristics | |||||||
| n | 292 | 305 | 256 | 341 | |||
| Age (y) | 57.6±4.6 | 57.9±4.8 | 0.527 | 58.1±5.0 | 57.6±4.5 | 0.208 | |
| Menopausal years (y) | 8.2±5.3 | 8.8±5.9 | 0.217 | 8.8±6.2 | 8.4±5.3 | 0.365 | |
| Age at menarche(y) | 13.2±1.8 | 13.0±1.8 | 0.380 | 13.3±1.8 | 13.0±1.8 | 0.090 | |
| Ever use of contraceptives(%) | 126 (50.6) | 154 (46.7) | 0.191 | 98 (45.2) | 182 (50.3) | 0.264 | |
| Ever use of HRT (%) | 38 (15.3) | 51 (15.5) | 0.522 | 36 (16.6) | 53 (14.6) | 0.303 | |
| Dietary intake (from FFQ) | |||||||
| n | 244 | 329 | 213 | 360 | |||
| Energy (kcal/d) | 2100.7±1018.6* | 1958.0±912.2 | 0.044 | 2031.7±1013.6 | 2011.2±929.4 | 0.805 | |
| Protein (g/1000 kcal) | 55.8±13.2 | 54.9±13.5 | 0.419 | 54.5±13.5 | 55.8±13.3 | 0.274 | |
| Total fat (g/1000 kcal) | 21.2±6.9 | 20.9±6.8 | 0.612 | 21.1±6.5 | 20.9±7.0 | 0.752 | |
| Carbohydrate (g/1000 kcal) | 166.3±17.0 | 167.0±17.6 | 0.598 | 166.5±16.0 | 166.8±18.1 | 0.865 | |
| Fiber (g/1000 kcal) | 21.0±8.8 | 20.4±8.3 | 0.389 | 20.2±8.2 | 20.9±8.6 | 0.292 | |
| Cholesterol (mg/1000 kcal) | 146.2±90.1 | 146.9±77.4 | 0.292 | 143.8±78.4 | 148.3±85.7 | 0.538 | |
| Isoflavones (mg/1000 kcal) # | 7.03±7.83 | 6.12±6.84 | 0.145 | 7.05±8.44 | 6.37±6.19 | 0.263 | |
| Other lifestyle factors | |||||||
| N | 292 | 305 | 256 | 341 | |||
| Total PA (MET-min/d) | 1445.6±728.2 | 1413.0±816.1 | 0.620 | 1460.4±808.8 | 1407.0±761.0 | 0.427 | |
| Occupational PA | 586.1±759.5 | 474.4±741.1 | 0.077 | 502.2±731.8 | 534.8±762.2 | 0.615 | |
| Housework PA | 558.7±459.9 | 549.8±489.5 | 0.823 | 555.9±446.6 | 552.2±494.3 | 0.929 | |
| Sports PA | 141.0±166.2* | 219.0±254.8 | 0.000 | 169.9±192.3* | 211.4±267.9 | 0.031 | |
| Sitting hours (h/d) | 3.3±1.9 | 3.3±2.1 | 0.981 | 3.2±2.1 | 3.4±2.0 | 0.273 | |
| Regular tea drinking(%) | 195 (78.6) | 268 (81.7) | 0.397 | 176 (82.2) | 287 (79.3) | 0.447 | |
| Regular alcohol drinking(%) | 18 (7.3) | 30 (9.1) | 0.256 | 19 (8.8) | 29 (8.0) | 0.757 | |
| Regular coffee drinking(%) | 84 (33.9) | 127 (38.7) | 0.256 | 78 (36.4) | 133 (36.7) | 0.944 | |
| Smoking (%) | 1 (0.4) | 2 (0.6) | 0.672 | 1 (0.5) | 2 (0.6) | 0.693 | |
| Passive smoking (%) | 43 (17.4) | 48 (14.6) | 0.211 | 37 (15.3) | 54 (15.0) | 0.481 | |
Data are presented as mean ± standard deviation for continuous variables or number (%) for categorical variables. T-test was applied for continuous variables and Chi-square test for categorical variables. HRT indicates hormone replacement treatment; FFQ indicates food frequency questionnaires; PA indicates physical activity; Regular drinking means drinking alcohol, tea or coffee more than 1 time per week; METs are multiples of resting metabolic rates and a MET-minute is computed by multiplying the MET score of an activity by the minutes performed. Dietary nutrients intakes were calculated mainly based on the China Food Composition Table 2002 and 2004.
denotes testing by non-parametric Mann-Whitney Test due to data heterogeneity;
*denotes significant difference between producers and non-producers by t-test (P<0.05).