Table 1.

Factor loadings for maternal dietary patterns during the confinement period (n = 490) ¹.

Food Groups	TCC Diet	TIC Diet	Eat-Out Diet	SVF Diet
Traditional dried fruits 2,3	0.70
Herbal tea	0.67
Rhizomes 2	0.64
Traditional Chinese herbs 2,4	0.56
Foods cooked with wine or alcohol 2	0.56
Herbal-based soup	0.50
Pig trotter/tail/skin dishes	0.50
Sesame oil 2	0.46
Poultry (NF)	0.45
Foods cooked with vinegar 2	0.43
Red meat (NF)	0.34
Ethnic bread 5		0.64
Indian herbs 2,6		0.58
Whole milk		0.49
Seed herbs 2,7		0.48
Butter/ghee		0.47
Curry-based gravies		0.46
Legumes/pulses		0.44
Allium 2		0.43
Coffee and tea		0.35
Garlic 2		0.35
White bread		0.30
Deep-fried/mashed potato			0.48
Sweetened and cordial drinks 8			0.46
Ice-cream			0.41
Chips/crisps			0.40
Dim sum and local savoury snacks (F)			0.38
Meat (F)			0.38
Soya bean drinks			0.36
Flavoured rice			0.33
Burgers			0.32
Pizza			0.31
Flavoured noodles			0.31
Carbonated drinks			0.30
Vegetable/meat/fish/seafood soup				0.53
Noodles (in soup)				0.38
Vegetables—Cruciferous, Leafy, Yellow/Orange/Red				0.37
Other vegetables 9 and stir fried/boiled potato				0.35
Fish (NF)				0.35
Sweet spreads				−0.33
Fresh fruits				0.33
Milk-based drinks				−0.30

F = Deep-fried or cooked in curry/coconut based gravies; NF = Stir-fried, pan-fried, braised, stewed, boiled, steamed, grilled, baked or roasted preparation; ¹ Values are factor loadings derived from exploratory factor analysis of 84 food groups. Only absolute values ≥ 0.3 were presented. TCC: Traditional Chinese Confinement; TIC: Traditional Indian Confinement; SVF: Soup, Vegetables and Fruits; ² Frequency of food intake was recorded; ³ Dates, longan, and wolfberry; ⁴ Dang gui, dang shen, pakkei, and ginseng; ⁵ Steamed buns, chapatti, thosai, idli, and naan; ⁶ Ayurveda, confinement herbs, and spices; ⁷ Cumin seed, fenugreek, and coriander; ⁸ Non-carbonated sweetened beverages, cordial, and sweetened fruit juice; ⁹ Starchy, fruit-bearing vegetables, and beans.