Table 4.

Summary of factor loadings of foods in the dietary patterns extracted using principal components analysis from food frequency questionnaires at 3, 4, 7, and 9 years

Food item	Snacksa	Junk/processeda,b				Traditionala				Healthy/health-conscious/vegetariana,c
	3 y	3 y	4 y	7 y`	9 y	3 y	4 y	7 y	9 y	3 y	4 y	7 y	9 y
Variance explained	(4.0%)	(7.88%)	(7.31%)	(7.32%)	(7.2%)	(4.14%)	(6.48%)	(7.03%)	(7.9%)	(7.43%)	(3.85%)	(3.81%)	(4.1%)
White bread	−0.070	0.344	0.287	0.302	0.308	0.050	−0.001	0.023	−0.176	−0.232	−0.425	−0.339	−0.213
Nonwhite bread			−0.266	−0.290	−0.296		−0.019	−0.026	0.231		0.489	0.418	0.251
Biscuits	0.531	0.318	0.496	0.509	0.522	−0.031	0.076	−0.034	−0.081	−0.167	−0.098	−0.082	−0.014
Ice cream			0.510	0.510	0.496		0.009	0.047	0.085		0.096	0.086	0.064
Milk-based puddings and custard			0.311	0.367	0.414		0.278	0.230	0.378		0.141	0.246	0.138
Other puddingsd	0.552	−0.032	0.267	0.289	0.332	0.151	0.262	0.240	0.368	0.097	0.175	0.255	0.139
Cakes/buns	0.509	0.211	0.356	0.346	0.327	−0.012	−0.076	0.032	0.152	0.016	0.103	0.144	0.078
Poultry	0.136	0.011	0.054	−0.099	0.058	0.603	0.572	0.627	0.457	−0.009	−0.115	−0.154	−0.480
Red meat	0.118	0.036	0.059	0.102	0.071	0.619	0.606	0.608	0.394	−0.087	−0.269	−0.075	−0.539
Cold meats			0.151	0.172	0.164		0.190	0.239	0.149		−0.159	−0.187	−0.349
Coated poultry products			0.356	0.387	0.406		0.097	0.212	−0.012		−0.151	−0.207	−0.296
Meat pies			0.274	0.325	0.326		0.113	0.131	0.055		−0.097	−0.075	−0.133
Sausages, burgers	−0.125	0.468	0.356	0.395	0.361	0.066	−0.028	−0.009	−0.076	0.124	−0.153	−0.161	−0.173
Pizza	0.078	0.321	0.306	0.301	0.315	−0.086	−0.061	−0.048	0.051	0.244	0.203	0.234	0.147
Fishe	0.061	0.076	−0.004	−0.071	−0.025	0.193	0.310	0.312	0.427	0.301	0.340	0.319	0.083
Eggs	−0.029	0.164	0.147	0.126	0.089	0.159	0.172	0.171	0.323	0.322	0.266	0.299	0.101
Cheese	0.314	−0.098	0.084	0.052	0.070	0.039	0.092	0.085	0.243	0.319	0.336	0.320	0.225
Vegetarian pies			0.056	0.095	0.122		−0.043	−0.114	0.137		0.410	0.448	0.448
Meat substitutes (soy, tofu, etc.)	−0.046	0.015	−0.056	−0.051	−0.022	−0.280	−0.128	0.208	0.102	0.529	0.524	0.523	0.600
Pulses	−0.064	−0.019	−0.098	−0.110	−0.100	−0.074	0.079	−0.010	0.233	0.588	0.485	0.486	0.495
Nuts			−0.037	−0.049	−0.005	−0.280	−0.129	−0.089	0.157		0.408	0.401	0.411
Chips	0.123	0.484	0.479	0.511	0.501	−0.047	−0.090	−0.050	−0.120	−0.085	−0.074	−0.072	−0.080
Roast potatoes		−	0.246	0.245	0.273		0.381	0.409	0.255		−0.210	−0.182	−0.325
Potatoes (not chips)	0.125	0.147	−0.017	0.009	0.054	0.489	0.462	0.448	0.436	−0.024	−0.015	0.075	−0.151
Pasta	0.174	−0.068	−0.072	−0.099	−0.102	0.068	0.198	0.197	0.422	0.500	0.476	0.417	0.150
Rice	−0.026	0.064	−0.044	−0.020	−0.053	0.197	0.268	0.324	0.465	0.525	0.358	0.352	0.064
Baked beans/canned pastaf	0.150	0.204	0.356	0.377	0.414	0.115	0.126	0.131	0.106	0.078	0.054	0.038	−0.065
Green vegetables	−0.094	0.059	−0.069	−0.105	−0.141	0.610	0.735	0.702	0.634	0.241	0.185	0.255	−0.039
Root vegetables	−0.004	−0.040	−0.074	−0.078	−0.077	0.554	0.644	0.584	0.633	0.278	.0.203	0.266	−0.014
Peas	0.099	0.006	0.026	−0.014	0.037	0.241	0.568	0.517	0.440	0.447	0.082	0.156	−0.049
Sweetcorn			−0.056	−0.028	−0.014		0.398	0.412	0.464		0.275	0.270	0.037
Salad	0.100	−0.048	−0.046	−0.115	−0.177	0.131	0.265	0.283	0.452	0.445	0.434	0.421	0.236
Fresh fruit	0.385	−0.226	0.046	−0.004	−0.030	0.167	0.278	0.296	0.453	0.356	0.351	0.339	0.114
Fruit juice	0.116	−0.198	0.020	0.041	−0.073	−0.044	0.045	0.061	0.215	0.383	0.341	0.251	0.177
Fizzy drinks	0.040	0.582	0.450	0.484	0.451	−0.017	−0.032	0.015	−0.081	−0.092	−0.146	−0.084	−0.069
Tea/coffee	−0.274	0.411	0.009	−0.060	−0.006	−0.185	0.029	0.035	0.004	−0.069	0.015	−0.002	0.001
Water	−0.068	−0.087	−0.073	−0.110	−0.177	0.065	0.124	0.135	0.295	0.367	0.281	0.301	0.170
Flavored milk drinks	−0.067	0.301	0.054	0.189	0.157	0.079	0.084	0.060	0.133	0.067	0.068	0.128	0.089
Sweets	0.139	0.517	0.490	0.522	0.503	−0.009	−0.003	-0.016	−0.054	−0.058	−0.077	−0.013	0.030
Chocolate	0.258	0.515	0.486	0.516	0.520	−0.019	−0.047	−0.041	−0.095	−0.102	−0.098	−0.062	0.004
Crisps	0.291	0.456	0.465	0.439	0.426	−0.019	−0.112	−0.068	−0.104	−0.145	−0.099	−0.076	−0.028

^a Patterns of similar type over the ages are grouped together. Boldface numbers indicate loadings >0.3.

^b This pattern has been labeled “junk” or “processed.”

^c This pattern was labeled “health-conscious/vegetarian” at 9 years.

^d At age 3 years, only 1 question was asked regarding puddings.

^e At age 3 years, breaded fish products were included in this group; they were treated separately at all other time points.

^f At age 3 years, canned pasta was not included in this group, as it was not asked about.

Modified from Northstone et al. (2008)¹⁶