. 2013 Dec 18;99(3):567–577. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.113.072132

TABLE 3.

Dietary and purchasing patterns derived from factor analysis in the Homescan and NHANES populations¹

	Homescan dietary purchasing patterns				NHANES dietary intake patterns
Food groups	Factor 1: prudent	Factor 2: breakfast	Factor 3: RTE meals/fast food	Factor 4: prudent/ snacks/LCS desserts	Factor 1: prudent	Factor 2: breakfast	Factor 3: protein/potatoes	Factor 4: CS desserts/ CS sweetener
Water/other drinks, unsweetened
Juice, sweetened, LCS
Juice, sweetened, CS		0.29				0.25
Milk, unsweetened		0.50		−0.21		0.71
Milk, sweetened, LCS
Milk, sweetened, CS
Coffee/tea, unsweetened					0.28	−0.33
Coffee/tea, sweetened, LCS
Coffee/tea, sweetened, CS						−0.22
Alcohol		−0.25				−0.33		−0.28
Yogurt, plain/unsweetened
Yogurt, sweetened, LCS
Yogurt, sweetened, CS
Cheese, all types	0.25	−0.24	0.20				0.27
Cooking fat/oil	0.28	−0.34	−0.52	−0.23	0.25		0.22	0.36
Nuts				0.65	0.22
Dressings/sauces	0.24	−0.36					0.28
Protein group; meat/fish/eggs	0.31	−0.38		−0.28		−0.26	0.55	−0.29
Vegetables	0.38			0.26	0.49
Potatoes		−0.25		−0.27	−0.28		0.38
Fruit, plain	0.20			0.44	0.46	0.31
Fruit, processed and sweetened, LCS
Fruit, processed and sweetened, CS
RTE mixed/frozen meals			0.67	−0.27			−0.84
Fast-food meals			0.45	−0.26	−0.61
Grains, pasta/rice	0.40		−0.47		0.60
RTE cereal, sweetened, LCS		0.31
RTE cereal, sweetened, CS		0.71				0.68
Salty snacks	−0.27	−0.22		0.20	−0.25
Desserts/sweet snacks, LCS				0.31
Desserts/sweet snacks, CS	−0.92							0.72
Sweeteners, LCS
Sweeteners, CS			−0.53	−0.30				0.60
Other			−0.24

Factor loadings were estimated for all food and beverage groups, excluding LCS and CS beverages in each data set separately by using standardized measures of purchases (Homescan) or intake (NHANES): percentage of energy from each food group with respect to the total energy, excluding LCS and CS beverages. A varimax rotation was performed after the factor analysis so that the emerging factors are as different as possible and less correlated with one another. Four factors are retained in each data set based on the Kaiser criterion (eigenvalue >1) and the interpretability of the resulting patterns. Factor loadings <0.20 are not shown. CS, calorie sweetened; Homescan, Nielsen Homescan Panel; LCS, low-calorie sweetened; RTE, ready to eat.