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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Dec 1.
Published in final edited form as: JAMA Ophthalmol. 2015 Dec;133(12):1415–1424. doi: 10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2015.3590

Table 1. Age-Standardized Characteristics of Participants in the Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study According to the Cumulative Average Predicted Plasma Score of Lutein/Zeaxanthin in 1996.

Characteristic Lutein/Zeaxanthin Quintile
1 2 3 4 5
Nurses' Health Study
Participants, No. 10 548 10 548 10 548 10 548 10 548
Age, mean, y 62 62 62 62 63
BMI, mean 27 27 27 27 26
White, % 99 98 98 98 97
Current smoker, % 17 13 10 9 8
Pack-years of smoking 29 25 23 21 20
Physical activity, median, MET-h/wk 8 9 11 13 16
Hypertension, % 39 41 41 41 38
Postmenopausal, % 90 90 90 90 90
Current menopausal hormone use, %a 37 41 42 43 44
Current aspirin use, % 46 48 50 50 50
Dietary intake, mean
 Total energy intake, kcal/d 1703 1670 1698 1756 1877
 Alcohol, g/d 5 5 6 6 7
 Fruits and vegetables, servings/d 4 5 5 6 8
 aHEI excluding fruits and vegetables 39 41 42 43 44
 Lutein/zeaxanthin, μg/d 1657 2259 2732 3338 4779
 α-Carotene, μg/d 528 662 767 873 1112
 β-Carotene, μg/d 2890 4690 4324 5101 6862
 β-Cryptoxanthin, μg/d 110 156 184 208 241
 Lycopene, μg/d 5935 6314 6571 6748 7093
 ALA, g/d 0.93 0.95 0.96 0.98 1.01
 DHA, g/d 0.11 0.13 0.14 0.16 0.19
Predicted lutein/zeaxanthin plasma score, mean, μg/L 152 161 169 179 203
Health Professionals Follow-up Study
Participants, No. 4999 4999 5000 4999 4999
Age, mean, y 62 63 63 64 64
BMI, mean 26 26 26 26 26
White, % 97 96 95 96 95
Current smoker, % 8 5 4 4 4
Pack-years of smoking 14 13 12 12 11
Physical activity, median, MET-h/wk 20 23 25 28 32
Hypertension, % 34 34 34 33 34
Current aspirin use, % 68 70 70 68 67
Dietary intake, mean
 Total energy intake, kcal/d 2068 1938 1956 1998 2115
 Alcohol, g/d 12 11 11 11 11
 Fruits and vegetables, servings/d 4 5 6 6 8
 aHEI excluding fruits and vegetables 41 43 44 45 47
 Lutein/zeaxanthin, μg/d 1848 2563 3091 3832 5468
 α-Carotene, μg/d 606 768 879 1,024 1374
 β-Carotene, μg/d 3413 4341 5052 6013 8152
 β-Cryptoxanthin, μg/d 121 172 211 244 307
 Lycopene, μg/d 6545 7223 7532 7888 8520
 ALA, g/d 1.05 1.07 1.08 1.10 1.13
 DHA, g/d 0.16 0.19 0.20 0.23 0.27
Predicted lutein/zeaxanthin plasma score, mean, μg/L 149 159 167 177 202

Abbreviations: aHEI, alternative healthy eating index; ALA, α-linolenic acid; BMI, body mass index (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared); DHA, docosahexaenoic acid; MET-h, hours of metabolic equivalent tasks.

a

Current menopausal hormone use among postmenopausal women.