Table 2.
Unadjusted demographic and lifestyle characteristics by diet group
| Overall | WFPB | Vegan | Paleo | TTEH | Vegetarian | Whole food | WAP | Low-carb | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diet followers (n) | 9019 | 2344 | 1763 | 1326 | 1048 | 883 | 754 | 493 | 408 |
| % of total | – | 26 | 20 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 5 |
| Gender | |||||||||
| Male (%) | 18 | 19 | 18 | 21 | 14 | 11 | 12 | 17 | 31 |
| Female (%) | 82 | 81 | 82 | 79 | 86 | 89 | 88 | 83 | 69 |
| Age group | |||||||||
| 18–34 (%) | 22 | 16 | 26 | 25 | 23 | 22 | 25 | 20 | 21 |
| 35–54 (%) | 46 | 42 | 44 | 54 | 48 | 48 | 45 | 39 | 42 |
| 55+ (%) | 33 | 42 | 30 | 21 | 29 | 30 | 29 | 41 | 37 |
| Hispanic (%) | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| Race (% White) | 93 | 94 | 93 | 93 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 93 |
| Region | |||||||||
| Northeast (%) | 14 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 19 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 12 |
| South (%) | 19 | 20 | 16 | 20 | 18 | 22 | 17 | 21 | 17 |
| Midwest (%) | 14 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 15 | 12 | 14 | 17 | 11 |
| West (%) | 22 | 23 | 23 | 25 | 20 | 20 | 21 | 27 | 18 |
| Pacific (%) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Unknown US state (%) | 14 | 15 | 13 | 12 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 15 | 14 |
| Non-US country | 16 | 15 | 23 | 17 | 13 | 15 | 14 | 4 | 27 |
| Time on diet* | |||||||||
| Less than 6 months (%) | 12 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 3 | 22 |
| 6 months to 1 year (%) | 13 | 14 | 11 | 17 | 12 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 21 |
| 1–5 years (%) | 49 | 55 | 50 | 62 | 34 | 34 | 47 | 48 | 45 |
| More than 5 years (%) | 27 | 17 | 27 | 9 | 45 | 48 | 33 | 42 | 12 |
| Supplement use† | |||||||||
| Yes (%) | 85 | 83 | 86 | 90 | 79 | 81 | 84 | 92 | 91 |
| No (%) | 15 | 17 | 14 | 10 | 21 | 19 | 16 | 8 | 9 |
| Past or current diagnosis of any health condition‡,§,** | |||||||||
| Yes (%) | 67 | 68 | 59 | 72 | 70 | 64 | 67 | 64 | 76 |
| No/did not select (%) | 33 | 32 | 41 | 28 | 30 | 36 | 33 | 36 | 24 |
| Current or previous diagnosis of OW†† or OB†† (%) | 26 | 24 | 21 | 23 | 40 | 30 | 29 | 14 | 35 |
| Weight status among followers <1 year | |||||||||
| Overweight†† (%) | – | 22 | 21 | 27 | 26 | 27 | 25 | 24 | 35 |
| Obese†† (%) | – | 36 | 26 | 32 | 50 | 40 | 36 | 16 | 41 |
| Weight status among followers ≥1 year | |||||||||
| Overweight (%) | – | 20 | 19 | 28 | 27 | 25 | 25 | 21 | 31 |
| Obese (%) | – | 9 | 9 | 13 | 27 | 18 | 14 | 8 | 20 |
| Medication use‡‡ | |||||||||
| Cholesterol (%) | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 7 |
| High blood pressure (%) | 8 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 11 |
| Type 2 diabetes (%) | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| Cancer (%) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Gastrointestinal (%) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| No. of diet(s) followed in the past | |||||||||
| One (%) | 34 | 36 | 46 | 32 | 26 | 29 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| Two (%) | 14 | 15 | 13 | 15 | 14 | 9 | 15 | 17 | 11 |
| Three or more (%) | 16 | 15 | 13 | 18 | 16 | 11 | 21 | 23 | 19 |
| Physical activity (PA)§§ | |||||||||
| MET-min/week | 3108 | 3260 | 3208 | 3057 | 2448 | 2895 | 3057 | 3679 | 2952 |
| (Interquartile range) | (1836, 5154) | (1878, 5133) | (1878, 5340) | (1878, 4914) | (1617, 4527) | (1737, 4914) | (1878, 1737) | (2013, 6468) | (1836, 5362) |
| Low PA (%) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Moderate PA (%) | 35 | 32 | 34 | 35 | 44 | 38 | 35 | 30 | 36 |
| High PA (%) | 63 | 66 | 64 | 63 | 54 | 57 | 63 | 68 | 63 |
WFPB, whole food, plant-based; TTEH, try to eat healthy; WAP, Weston A. Price; MET, metabolic equivalents.
n 9011 (excludes n 8 prefer not to answer responses).
n 8996 (excludes n 10 prefer not to answer and n 13 missing responses).
Includes those who selected either ‘At some point in the past I have been diagnosed with’ and/or ‘I still have this’ in response to the health history question for ‘ever diagnosed with health condition’; nonresponse was considered ‘no’.
Includes n 6013 who selected any current or past disease condition and n 3006 who did not select any current or past disease condition; nonresponse was considered ‘no’.
Includes overweight, obese, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, CVD, cancer, autoimmune, gastrointestinal or other.
OW = overweight: BMI ≥25·0 and <30·0; obese: BMI ≥ 30·0.
Includes participants who selected ‘I currently take medication for this condition’; nonresponse was considered ‘no’.
n 3114 (includes only participants with complete and plausible physical activity data).