Table 1.
Characteristics of the participants by examinations, excluding observations with anti-hypertensive medication use during the follow-up (2075 participants with 6661 observations)‡ (Mean values and standard deviations; percentages)
| Exam 5 (1991–1995) | Exam 6 (1995–1998) | Exam 7 1998–2001 | Exam 8 2005–2008 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1885 | 1844 | 1687 | 1245 | |||||
| Number of participants | Mean | sd | Mean | sd | Mean | sd | Mean | sd |
| Age (years) | 51·9 | 9·2 | 55·9**†† | 9·1 | 58·4**†† | 9·0 | 63·6**†† | 8·8 |
| Men (%) | 42·4 | 42·6 | 41·9 | 40·2 | ||||
| BMI (kg/m2) | 26·25 | 4·35 | 26·97**†† | 4·74 | 27·03†† | 4·73 | 26·88 | 4·86 |
| Regular cigarette smokers (%) | 20·3 | 16·4**†† | 14·7**†† | 10·6**†† | ||||
| Physical activity index | 34·83 | 6·19 | 34·87 | 6·17 | 37·25†† | 6·18 | 35·87 | 5·68 |
| DGAI score | 8·5 | 2·5 | 9·0**†† | 2·6 | 8·7** | 2·7 | 9·0† | 2·7 |
| Total cholesterol (mmol/l) | 5·23 | 0·95 | 5·35**†† | 1·07 | 5·27** | 0·94 | 5·06** | 0·93 |
| HDL-cholesterol (mmol/l) | 1·35 | 0·39 | 1·37**†† | 0·42 | 1·46**†† | 0·44 | 1·58**†† | 0·46 |
| TAG (mmol/l) | 1·46 | 1·17 | 1·49 | 1·69 | 1·40 | 0·87 | 1·20**†† | 0·71 |
| Glucose (mmol/l) | 5·30 | 1·14 | 5·46**†† | 1·14 | 5·47**†† | 1·09 | 5·62**†† | 1·03 |
| Systolic blood pressure (mmHg) | 116·3 | 12·0 | 121·5**†† | 15·2 | 120·7†† | 15·6 | 123·9**†† | 14·9 |
| Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg) | 71·2 | 8·1 | 73·7**†† | 8·5 | 72·9 | 9·1 | 74·0**†† | 9·2 |
| Diabetics (%) | 2·5 | 4·3**†† | 4·8†† | 3·5 | ||||
| Cholesterol-lowering meds users (%) | 4·4 | 7·4**†† | 12·2**†† | 26·2**†† | ||||
| Users of hormone-replacement therapy or oral contraceptives (%) | 13·5 | 20**†† | 22·8*†† | N/A | ||||
| Dietary intake | ||||||||
| Total energy (kJ) | 7833·8 | 2575·9 | 7830·3 | 2592·2 | 7738·9 | 2536·6 | 7911·9 | 2666·3 |
| Fish (g/week) | 230·0 | 191·8 | 217·5**†† | 177·3 | 228·3 | 197·9 | 239·8 | 219·5 |
| Meat (g/week) | 868·6 | 476·9 | 841·9 | 445·6 | 852·1 | 440·0 | 887·9 | 457·6 |
| Whole grain (g/week) | 397·8 | 455·9 | 427·3*† | 495·8 | 436·3 | 471·4 | 570·0**†† | 513·0 |
| Refined grain (g/week) | 568·5 | 380·2 | 597·8 | 486·7 | 514·9**†† | 366·9 | 384·3**†† | 363·0 |
| Fruits and vegetables (g/week) | 3550·0 | 2064·0 | 3644·2 | 1949·2 | 3722·4†† | 2037·1 | 3541·0** | 1932·3 |
| Alcohol (g/week) | 1030·6 | 2057·3 | 1037·9 | 1979·2 | 980·3 | 1782·2 | 928·8 | 1747·7 |
| Caffeinated coffee (g/week) | 3081·1 | 2702·2 | 2804·3**†† | 2499·8 | 2553·4**†† | 2355·2 | 2281·9†† | 2144·2 |
| Dairy and milk products | ||||||||
| Total dairy products (servings/d) | 1·49 | 1·10 | 1·53 | 1·17 | 1·58 | 1·19 | 1·70**†† | 1·22 |
| High-fat dairy products (servings/week) | 4·48 | 4·58 | 4·35 | 4·77 | 4·83** | 5·30 | 5·66**†† | 5·51 |
| Low-fat dairy products (servings/week) | 5·95 | 6·43 | 6·35 | 6·80 | 6·22 | 6·84 | 6·28 | 6·74 |
| Cheese (servings/week) | 2·74 | 2·94 | 2·71 | 3·16 | 3·05* | 3·71 | 3·73**†† | 4·2 |
| Yoghurt (servings/week) | 0·91 | 1·96 | 1·14**†† | 2·28 | 1·14†† | 2·43 | 1·68**†† | 3·46 |
| Skimmed/low-fat milk (servings/week) | 4·70 | 5·88 | 4·86 | 6·09 | 4·77 | 5·89 | 4·30 | 5·37 |
| Fluid milk (servings/week) | 5·43 | 6·12 | 5·44 | 6·4 | 5·33 | 6·18 | 4·81†† | 5·68 |
| Whole milk (servings/week) | 0·73 | 2·52 | 0·58**†† | 2·29 | 0·56 | 2·62 | 0·51†† | 2·29 |
| Fermented milk products (servings/week) | 4·30 | 3·89 | 4·66 | 4·42 | 4·94†† | 4·87 | 6·11**†† | 5·74 |
| Cream and butter (servings/week) | 5·67 | 9·42 | 5·76**†† | 8·6 | 6·08†† | 8·73 | 6·28†† | 9·17 |
DGAI, Dietary Guidelines Adherence Index.
Mean value was significantly different from that for the previous examination: * P<0·05, ** P<0·01.
Mean value was significantly different from that for examination 5: † P<0·05, †† P<0·01.
Comparisons between groups were tested, with Bonferroni correction by paired t test or sign rank test for continuous variables or by χ 2 test for categorical variables. Total dairy products included skimmed/low-fat milk, whole milk, sherbet/ice milk, ice cream, yoghurt, cottage/ricotta cheese and other cheese (e.g. American, Cheddar, etc.). Low-fat dairy products included skimmed/low-fat milk, sherbet/ice milk and yoghurt. High-fat dairy products included whole milk, ice cream, cottage/ricotta cheese and other cheese (e.g. American, Cheddar, etc.). Fluid milk include skimmed/low-fat milk and whole milk. According to the definition by the US Department of Agriculture MyPlate Dairy Group( 28 ) and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans( 29 ), milk products with little to no Ca (e.g. cream cheese, cream and butter) are not included in the Dairy Group. Therefore, for the present study, we did not include cream, sour cream, cream cheese and butter in any of the dairy groups. However, for the purpose of comparison, we created a separate group ‘Cream and butter’ by summing the intake of these four milk products. In addition, the ‘Fermented milk products’ group includes sour cream, yoghurt, cottage/ricotta cheese, cream cheese and other cheese (e.g. American, Cheddar, etc.). For all dairy/milk products, we used unit ‘servings’ to facilitate the comparisons across different diary/milk products. The conversion algorithm between ‘serving’ and ‘gram’ is 1 serving skimmed/low-fat milk=245 g; 1 serving whole milk=244 g; 1 serving cream=15 g; 1 serving sour cream=12 g; 1 serving sherbet/ice milk=96 g; 1 serving ice cream=66 g; 1 serving yoghurt=227 g; 1 serving cottage/ricotta cheese=105 g; 1 serving cream cheese=28 g; 1 serving other cheese (e.g. American, Cheddar, etc.)=28 g; 1 serving butter=5 g.