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. 2014 Apr 17;144(7):1081–1090. doi: 10.3945/jn.113.183640

TABLE 1.

Sample characteristics of 2455 children by categories of dairy consumption1

Total dairy (g/d)
 Full-fat dairy (g/d)
 Reduced-fat dairy (g/d)
Sample characteristics Q1(n = 610) Q2(n = 617) Q3(n = 614) Q4(n = 614) Q1(n = 612) Q2(n = 619) Q3(n = 610) Q4(n = 614) C1(n = 873) C2(n = 524) C3(n = 531) C4(n = 527)
Age, y 10.6 ± 0.2 10.6 ± 0.2 10.6 ± 0.2 10.6 ± 0.2 10.6 ± 0.2 10.6 ± 0.2 10.6 ± 0.2 10.6 ± 0.2 10.6 ± 0.2 10.6 ± 0.2 10.6 ± 0.2 10.6 ± 0.2
Girls, % 53.4 53.3 53.1 53.4 53.4 53 53.4 53.4 53 53.6 53.9 52.9
Height, cm 143 ± 7 144 ± 7 144 ± 6 145 ± 7 144 ± 6 144 ± 7 144 ± 7 144 ± 6 143 ± 6 144 ± 7 144 ± 7 144 ± 7
BMI, kg/m2 18.1 ± 2.9 18.1 ± 2.8 18.1 ± 2.9 18.2 ± 2.9 18.1 ± 2.9 18.2 ± 2.9 18.2 ± 2.9 18 ± 2.8 18 ± 2.8 18.2 ± 3 18.2 ± 2.8 18.3 ± 3
Overweight,2 % 20 20.3 20.7 21.8 20.4 22.1 20.8 19.4 19.4 20.8 21.7 21.8
Pubertal stage at 13 y,3 %
 Pre 6 5 6 5 5 5 6 6 5 6 6 6
 Early 38 36 37 37 41 39 32 36 37 38 40 40
 Late 56 59 58 58 54 55 63 59 58 57 54 54
Dietary reporting errors at 13 y, %
 Under 41 40 36 30 40 38 31 31 37 37 40 33
 Plausible 40 43 43 46 40 44 45 45 41 48 42 44
 Over 20 17 21 24 20 19 24 24 23 16 18 24
Dieting at 13 y,4 % 28 24 25 22 25 27 27 20 25 25 25 25
Maternal educational status, %
 None/CSE/vocational 20 14 15 15 19 14 15 15 18 16 13 15
 O level 34 35 38 35 34 35 33 40 37 36 34 34
 A level/university degree 46 51 48 50 47 51 52 46 46 48 52 51
Maternal overweight,2 % 36 36 34 34 35 34 36 35 35 38 33 35
Physical activity at 13 y,5 counts/min 530 ± 185 538 ± 178 535 ± 181 528 ± 174 535 ± 187 534 ± 178 535 ± 177 527 ± 177 532 ± 181 528 ± 173 536 ± 174 535 ± 188
1

Values are means ± SDs or percentages from baseline (age 10 y) unless otherwise indicated. Quartiles of total and full-fat dairy intake (g/d) are sex- and baseline-BMI (quartile)–specific. The lowest category (C1) of reduced-fat dairy intake (g/d) was defined as the bottom 36% of consumers because of a large number of participants with no consumption of reduced-fat dairy products at age 10 y (as much as 36% in some sex- and BMI-specific strata). The remaining participants were categorized using tertiles (C2–C4). C, category; CSE, Certificate of Secondary Education; Q, quartile.

2

Child overweight or obesity was defined by using International Obesity Taskforce age- and sex-specific weight categories (27). Mothers with a BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 were categorized as overweight.

3

Tanner stage for pubic hair growth was self-reported by postal questionnaire and collapsed to pubertal stage defined as pre (Tanner = 1), early (Tanner = 2–3), and late (Tanner = 4–5).

4

Dieting status at age 13 y was self-reported by questionnaire in response to the question “During the past year, did you go on a diet to lose weight or keep from gaining weight?” (always, often, several times, a couple of times, never on diet). This variable was collapsed to a dichotomous variable (yes or no).

5

Physical activity was measured by uniaxial accelerometer in counts per minute.