Table 2.

Component loadings (≥0.3) of the 41 food groups per dietary pattern

	Dietary patterns
	Snacking	Full-fat	Meat	Healthy
Explained variance (%)	7.1	4.6	4.6	4.4
Savory snacks	0.47	-	-	-
Refined breakfast products	0.45	–	–	–
Ice cream	0.42	–	–	–
Sauces	0.41	–	0.35	–
Choclate and candy	0.38	–	–	–
Fruit drink	0.31	–	–	–
Full-fat dairy	0.30	–	–	–
Low-fat spreads	−0.38	−0.55	–	–
Sandwich toppings (sweet)	−0.38	–	–	−0.33
Whole grain breakfast products	−0.74	–	–	–
Tomato sauce for pasta	–	0.61	–	–
Full-fat spreads	–	0.48	−0.30	–
Refined grain products warm meal	–	0.46	0.34	–
Full-fat cheese	–	0.37	–	–
Low-fat cheese	–	−0.35	–	–
Low-fat meat	–	–	0.44	–
High-fat meat	–	–	0.39	–
Healthy meals	–	–	0.31	–
Boiled potatoes	–	–	0.30	–
Unhealthy meals	–	–	−0.32	–
Peanut butter	–	–	−0.34	–
Water and tea	–	–	–	0.48
Vegetables	–	–	–	0.47
Fish	–	–	–	0.46
Fruits	–	–	–	0.38
Whole grain products warm meal	–	–	–	0.36
Nuts	–	–	–	0.31
Pulses	–	–	–	0.30
Artificially sweeted sodas	–	–	–	–
Biscuits and pastries	–	–	–	–
Egg	–	–	–	–
Fried potato products	–	–	–	–
Fruit drink concentrate	–	–	–	–
Granola bars	–	–	–	–
Healthy snacks	–	–	–	–
Low-fat dairy	–	–	–	–
Meat alternatives and soy products	–	–	–	–
Medium-fat dairy	–	–	–	–
Processed meats	–	–	–	–
Sugar	–	–	–	–
Sugar sweeted sodas	–	–	–	–
a. Rotation converged in 12 iterations

Component loadings (≥0.3) were considered important for interpretability of the dietary patterns. A larger factor loading indicates a higher positive or negative correlation between the food group and dietary pattern