Table 1.
Sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics by energy-adjusted quartiles of total antioxidant capacity among U.S. adults in the NHANES 2007–2012 (n = 4039).
| Characteristics | N | Total Antioxidant Capacity (mg VCE/day) (Range, Median) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 (n = 975) | Q2 (n = 1001) | Q3 (n = 1035) | Q4 (n = 1028) | ||
| (0.5–216.6, 74.1) | (65.6–466.8, 188.9) | (142.3–1199.8, 428.9) | (379.7–9362.9, 1219.4) | ||
| n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | ||
| Gender | |||||
| Men | 2071 | 545 (55.2) | 504 (52.7) | 520 (50.9) | 502 (45.7) |
| Women | 1968 | 430 (44.8) | 497 (47.3) | 515 (49.1) | 526 (54.3) |
| Age (year) | |||||
| 19–30 | 775 | 251 (27.5) | 208 (23.5) | 179 (16.8) | 137 (14.7) |
| 31–50 | 1333 | 365 (42.6) | 330 (37.2) | 335 (37.6) | 303 (34.1) |
| 51–70 | 1267 | 261 (23.6) | 305 (28.1) | 327 (32.5) | 374 (37.8) |
| 70+ | 664 | 98 (6.2) | 158 (11.2) | 194 (13.1) | 214 (13.4) |
| Ethnicity | |||||
| White | 2016 | 490 (71.8) | 415 (65.7) | 486 (71.0) | 625 (80.7) |
| Black | 664 | 166 (9.6) | 181 (10.7) | 180 (9.6) | 137 (6.6) |
| Mexican-American | 623 | 163 (8.9) | 207 (11.1) | 173 (8.4) | 80 (3.0) |
| Others | 736 | 156 (9.7) | 198 (12.5) | 196 (11.0) | 186 (9.7) |
| PIR | |||||
| ≤1.3 | 1160 | 360 (29.0) | 299 (21.6) | 269 (18.2) | 232 (15.2) |
| >1.3 | 2543 | 545 (71.0) | 607 (78.4) | 673 (81.8) | 718 (84.8) |
| Alcohol consumption 1 | |||||
| None | 1487 | 377 (33.0) | 384 (30.9) | 377 (29.2) | 349 (29.2) |
| Moderate | 1309 | 241 (26.4) | 309 (34.4) | 367 (43.8) | 392 (40.6) |
| High | 1243 | 357 (40.6) | 308 (34.7) | 291 (27.0) | 287 (30.2) |
| Smoking 2 | |||||
| Never | 2182 | 459 (51.1) | 555 (57.1) | 601 (57.7) | 567 (59.4) |
| Former | 1014 | 212 (22.2) | 238 (24.5) | 267 (27.6) | 297 (26.4) |
| Current (<15 cigarettes/day) | 444 | 155 (13.9) | 109 (11.0) | 96 (8.7) | 84 (7.5) |
| Current (≥15 cigarettes/day) | 292 | 115 (12.8) | 63 (7.3) | 50 (6.0) | 64 (6.7) |
| Physical activity 3 | |||||
| Inactive | 1570 | 451 (42.6) | 370 (32.2) | 362 (32.4) | 387 (34.4) |
| <500 MET min/week | 506 | 137 (14.9) | 129 (14.0) | 122 (11.0) | 118 (10.8) |
| ≥500 MET min/week | 1961 | 387 (42.5) | 502 (53.8) | 550 (56.6) | 522 (54.8) |
| BMI (kg/m2) | |||||
| <25 | 1295 | 286 (30.3) | 319 (33.3) | 358 (37.3) | 332 (34.5) |
| 25–30 | 1371 | 325 (33.8) | 343 (35.7) | 352 (33.5) | 351 (33.4) |
| ≥30 | 1373 | 364 (35.9) | 339 (31.0) | 325 (29.2) | 345 (32.1) |
| Antioxidant supplement use 4 | |||||
| Yes | 1403 | 74 (10.0) | 302 (35.0) | 484 (49.2) | 543 (51.8) |
| No | 2636 | 901 (90.0) | 699 (65.0) | 551 (50.8) | 485 (48.2) |
| Use of blood pressure medication 5 | |||||
| Yes | 1313 | 261 (22.8) | 303 (26.7) | 374 (32.6) | 375 (32.9) |
| No | 2726 | 714 (77.2) | 698 (73.3) | 661 (67.4) | 653 (67.1) |
| Use of diabetes medication 6 | |||||
| Yes | 257 | 64 (5.1) | 59 (4.8) | 54 (2.8) | 80 (5.3) |
| No | 3782 | 911 (94.9) | 942 (95.2) | 981 (97.2) | 948 (94.7) |
| Saturated fatty acid intake, (g/day) | 4039 | 28.5 | 26.9 | 26.4 | 24.8 |
| Fiber intake (g/day) | 4039 | 14.2 | 17.8 | 19.8 | 18.8 |
1 Alcohol consumption: defined based on the number of drinks of any type of alcoholic beverage per day, with no consumption of drinks as none, no more than 2 drinks/day for men and no more than 1 drink/day for women as moderate, and more than 2 drinks for men and more than 1 drink for women as high intake; 2 smoking: former means to have smoked at least 100 cigarettes in entire life, but do not smoke cigarettes now. Current means to have smoked at least 100 cigarettes in entire life and now smoke cigarettes; 3 physical activity: inactive means does not do any walking/bicycling, moderate/vigorous recreational activities for at least 10 min continuously in a typical week. MET, metabolic equivalence of tasks; 4 yes defined as those who have more than zero for total antioxidant capacity (TAC) from supplements, no as those who have zero for TAC from supplements; 5 use of blood pressure medication: yes means to take prescribed medicine for high blood pressure or cholesterol; 6 use of diabetes medication: yes means to take insulin or diabetic pills to lower blood sugar. BMI, body mass index; NHANES, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; PIR, poverty-income-ratio; VCE, vitamin C equivalent.