. 2019 Oct 28;2019:1574021. doi: 10.1155/2019/1574021

Table 3.

Differences in mean telomere length (base pairs) by level of milk fat content consumed by U.S. men and women, after adjusting for the covariates (n = 5,834).

	Milk fat content typically consumed
Model	Milk abstainer (mean ± SE)	Full-fat (mean ± SE)	2% (mean ± SE)	1% (mean ± SE)	Nonfat (mean ± SE)	F	P
Model 1	5831^a ± 39	5771^a ± 43	5822^a ± 46	5955^b ± 67	5926^b ± 42	4.5	0.0061
Model 2	5848^a ± 40	5798^a ± 43	5847^a ± 51	5975^b ± 74	5942^b ± 50	3.3	0.0232
Model 3	5814^a ± 44	5784^a ± 47	5801^a ± 50	5963^b ± 85	5929^b ± 54	4.1	0.0093

The five levels of milk fat consumption were defined as follows: abstainer: participants who never consumed milk (n = 814, 14.0%); full-fat: adults who typically consumed whole or full-fat milk (n = 2094, 35.9%); 2%: subjects who usually consumed 2% milk (n = 1650, 28.3%); 1%: individuals who typically consumed 1% milk (n = 505, 8.7%); and nonfat: participants who typically consumed nonfat, skim, or 0.5% milk (n = 771, 13.2%). The number of subjects in each category does not take into account the sample weights assigned to each subject. However, the percentage (%) following sample size shows the proportion of subjects in the milk fat category with the NHANES sample weights applied. SE is the standard error of the mean. ^a,bMeans on the same row with the same superscript letter are not statistically different (P > 0.05). Model 1 compares telomere means, after adjusting for the demographic covariates. In Model 1, the mean difference in telomere length between milk abstainers and those who consumed 1% milk was P = 0.0564. Model 2 compares telomere means, after controlling for the demographic covariates and the lifestyle covariates. In Model 2, the difference in telomere length between abstainers and those who consumed 1% milk was P = 0.0589. Model 3 compares telomere means, after adjusting for the demographic, lifestyle, and dietary covariates.