Table 4.

Correlations between the mean food consumption (1961–2008) and the actual statistics of cardiovascular diseases in 24 countries

	Raised cholesterol (2008)		Raised blood pressure (2008)		Raised fasting blood glucose (2008)		Actual CHD mortality		Actual total CVD mortality		Life expectancy (2008)
	Men	Women	Men	Women	Men	Women	Men	Women	Men	Women	Men	Women
Fruits	0.13	0.12	−0.60	−0.54	−0.14	−0.35	−0.51	−0.51	−0.50	−0.42	0.56	0.49
Bananas	0.68	0.59	−0.48	−0.69	−0.09	−0.46	−0.44	−0.47	−0.77	−0.79	0.79	0.72
Oranges and mandarins	0.34	0.29	−0.67	−0.69	−0.22	−0.41	−0.67	−0.69	−0.79	−0.74	0.80	0.74
Distilled beverages	−0.16	−0.15	0.55	0.46	−0.10	0.05	0.20	0.18	0.37	0.32	−0.47	−0.41
Wine	0.00	0.09	−0.21	−0.18	−0.29	−0.32	−0.37	−0.29	−0.25	−0.23	0.13	0.31
Coffee	0.49	0.46	−0.36	−0.56	−0.11	−0.43	−0.29	−0.31	−0.47	−0.53	0.53	0.47
Cereals	−0.70	−0.61	0.54	0.77	0.29	0.61	0.46	0.50	0.78	0.80	−0.72	−0.63
Sunflower oil	−0.62	−0.53	0.35	0.48	0.22	0.46	0.34	0.39	0.71	0.73	−0.65	−0.59
Potatoes	0.35	0.23	0.12	0.04	−0.41	−0.29	−0.17	−0.20	−0.25	−0.31	−0.01	0.10
Vegetables	−0.52	−0.49	−0.16	0.18	0.08	0.32	−0.12	−0.08	0.11	0.20	−0.18	−0.08
Onions	−0.45	−0.50	0.04	0.31	0.10	0.45	0.14	0.18	0.28	0.33	−0.40	−0.33
Plant fat	−0.02	−0.08	−0.60	−0.40	−0.17	−0.17	−0.60	−0.57	−0.45	−0.36	0.45	0.44
Dairy total	0.41	0.37	−0.20	−0.44	−0.36	−0.58	−0.22	−0.27	−0.41	−0.47	0.54	0.50
Meat total	0.60	0.56	−0.34	−0.48	−0.33	−0.51	−0.11	−0.13	−0.38	−0.43	0.27	0.34
Animal protein	0.75	0.68	−0.44	−0.69	−0.26	−0.55	−0.34	−0.39	−0.59	−0.65	0.63	0.61
Animal fat	0.70	0.71	−0.14	−0.44	−0.28	−0.57	−0.05	−0.10	−0.37	−0.47	0.32	0.36
Animal fat and animal protein	0.77	0.75	−0.27	−0.56	−0.29	−0.60	−0.17	−0.22	−0.48	−0.58	0.46	0.49
Total protein	0.45	0.43	−0.29	−0.38	−0.12	−0.25	−0.18	−0.22	−0.28	−0.33	0.34	0.40
Total fat	0.70	0.67	−0.54	−0.71	−0.40	−0.69	−0.45	−0.48	−0.67	−0.72	0.63	0.66
Total fat and animal protein	0.77	0.72	−0.54	−0.75	−0.37	−0.68	−0.44	−0.48	−0.68	−0.74	0.67	0.69
Total fat and total protein	0.71	0.68	−0.52	−0.69	−0.36	−0.63	−0.42	−0.46	−0.63	−0.68	0.61	0.66
CA energy	−0.38	−0.32	0.50	0.63	−0.01	0.27	0.33	0.35	0.57	0.56	−0.61	−0.49
% CA energy	−0.73	−0.67	0.63	0.82	0.28	0.63	0.48	0.52	0.76	0.80	−0.75	−0.72
Raised blood pressure (men)	−0.43				0.15		0.61		0.65		−0.73
Raised blood press. (women)		−0.60				0.56		0.64		0.77		−0.75
Health expenditure (2008)	0.70	0.62	−0.54	−0.76	−0.34	−0.66	−0.59	−0.60	−0.78	−0.79	0.80	0.73
Health exp. (1995–2008)	0.73	0.65	−0.56	−0.78	−0.31	−0.66	−0.58	−0.58	−0.78	−0.79	0.80	0.76

Note: The mean food consumption in Belgium was based on the combination of data from Belgium and Luxembourg (1961–1999) and Belgium (2000–2008).