Skip to main content
. 2018 Jun 4;107(6):909–920. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqy042

TABLE 1.

Baseline characteristics of white women by diet group in the UK Biobank1

Meat eaters2
Characteristics Regular consumption (>3 times/wk) (max n = 86,432) Low consumption (≤3 times/wk) (max n = 128,429) Poultry eaters (max n = 3429) Fish eaters (max n = 6988) Vegetarians (max n = 4305) Vegans (max n = 223)
Age, y 56.6 ± 8.0c 56.5 ± 7.9c 56.5 ± 8.0c 54.0 ± 8.0a 52.8 ± 7.8b 54.4 ± 8.0a
Top socioeconomic quintile,3n (%) 18,784 (21.8)d 27,337 (21.3)c,d 673 (19.6)b,c 1259 (18.0)a,b 701 (16.3)a 26 (11.7)a,b
Has a degree or vocational qualification, n (%) 46,736 (54.9)d 73,052 (57.8)c 2099 (62.4)b 5227 (75.8)a 3192 (74.9)a 167 (75.6)a
Smoking status, n (%)
 Previous 26,965 (31.3) 41,843 (32.7) 1184 (34.7) 2572 (36.9) 1380 (32.1) 81 (36.3)
 Current 8549 (9.9)c 10,709 (8.4)b 261 (7.6)a,b,c 463 (6.6)b,c 295 (6.9)a 15 (6.7)a,b,c
Has a long-standing illness, n (%) 22,841 (27.1)b 30,708 (24.5)a 835 (24.8)a 1605 (23.4)a 1016 (24.2)a 61 (27.9)a,b
Physical activity, n (%)
 Moderate 33,703 (53.6) 53,280 (54.9) 1469 (54.5) 3280 (58.0) 1940 (55.3) 89 (49.2)
 High 13,002 (20.7)d 20,789 (21.4)a 777 (28.8)c 1308 (23.1)b 830 (23.6)b 55 (30.4)a,b,c
Has an active job, n (%) 15,692 (18.2)a 24,085 (18.8)b 664 (19.4)a,b,c 1341 (19.2)a,b,c 911 (21.2)c 52 (23.3)a,b,c
Intake
 Alcohol, g/d 12.4 ± 12.1c 10.8 ± 10.5a,b 10.3 ± 11.0a 11.2 ± 11.2b 10.6 ± 11.5a,b 8.6 ± 8.1a,b
 Total fruit and vegetables, servings/d 5.0 ± 2.6d 5.5 ± 2.7c 6.4 ± 3.4b 6.4 ± 3.3b 6.3 ± 3.4b 8.0 ± 6.4a
 Red and processed meat,4 g/d 66.4 ± 57.2d 46.6 ± 50.6c 9.2 ± 27.4b 2.0 ± 14.0a 0.6 ± 8.5a 1.2 ± 9.3a,b
 Poultry,4 g/d 32.1 ± 48.2b 32.3 ± 48.3b 30.9 ± 47.6b 1.3 ± 10.4a 0.1 ± 2.5a 1.2 ± 11.6a
 Nonoily fish,4 g/d 14.8 ± 33.2d 15.6 ± 33.7b 18.0 ± 33.3b,c 18.5 ± 35.2c 0.6 ± 6.3a 0.4 ± 3.5a
 Oily fish,4 g/d 10.1 ± 24.8d 12.2 ± 27.1c 18.0 ± 33.6b 17.6 ± 32.4b 0.4 ± 4.2a 0.4 ± 4.3a
Total energy,4 kJ/d 8360 ± 2102d 7915 ± 2033b 7702 ± 2169a 8026 ± 2043c 7959 ± 2173b,c 7790 ± 2281a,b,c
 Energy from carbohydrates, % 45.2 ± 7.7e 46.6 ± 7.8d 48.2 ± 8.6c 48.8 ± 7.9c 50.4 ± 7.8b 53.9 ± 8.0a
 Energy from protein, % 16.9 ± 3.7e 16.7 ± 3.8d 16.0 ± 3.8c 14.3 ± 2.9b 13.2 ± 2.6a 12.6 ± 2.5a
 Energy from fat, % 33.4 ± 6.6c 32.2 ± 6.8b 31.7 ± 7.5a 32.5 ± 7.1b 32.5 ± 7.1b 30.0 ± 7.4a
 Energy from saturated fat, % 12.8 ± 3.3e 12.2 ± 3.3c 11.6 ± 3.6d 11.9 ± 3.4b,d 12.1 ± 3.6b,c 8.4 ± 3.1a

1Values are means ± SDs unless otherwise indicated; n = 229,806. Groups that do not share a superscript letter were significantly different at the 5% level from post hoc pairwise comparisons based on linear regression models and after Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons. For categorical variables, this referred to overall differences across strata. max, maximum.

2Includes participants who consume any red or processed meat, regardless of whether they consume poultry, fish, or dairy. Cutoffs of regular and low consumption were determined on the basis of consumption of red and processed meat (beef, lamb, pork, processed meat) as reported on the touch-screen questionnaire.

3The least-deprived quintile based on the Townsend deprivation index.

4Based on 100,282 white women who completed ≥1 Web-based 24-h dietary assessment and after exclusion of implausible energy intakes (>18,000 kJ for women) and participants who reported any consumption of other hot or cold beverages (UK Biobank variable data field ID 100560), due to inaccurate energy coding for this variable. The max numbers for these variables in white women were as follows: 36,248 meat eaters of regular consumption, 56,141 meat eaters of low consumption, 1523 poultry eaters, 3779 fish eaters, 2420 vegetarians, and 123 vegans.