Table 1. Characteristics of women at study entrya, by categories of sweetened beverages consumption, in the NHS.
| SSBs | ASBs | Total fruit juices | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Never or almost never | 1/wk | ≥2/d | Never or almost never | 1/wk | ≥2/d | Never or almost never | 1/wk | ≥2/d | |
| Participants, n | 28,981 | 10,231 | 1,074 | 22,312 | 7,542 | 5,329 | 7,290 | 8,703 | 3,143 |
| Mean age, y | 62.9 (2.4) | 62.6 (2.2) | 62.4 (2.1) | 63.0 (2.5) | 62.7 (2.3) | 62.2 (2.0) | 63.0 (2.4) | 62.5 (2.2) | 62.9 (2.5) |
| BMI, kg/m2 | 26.7 (5.2) | 26.4 (5.0) | 27.2 (5.9) | 25.2 (4.8) | 26.5 (4.8) | 28.9 (5.9) | 26.6 (5.2) | 27.0 (5.3) | 25.7 (5.0) |
| Current smoker, % | 10 | 10 | 21 | 15 | 7 | 11 | 13 | 12 | 11 |
| Discretionary physical activity, METs-h/wk | 20.7 (24.2) | 19.8 (23.9) | 17.0 (22.6) | 19.6 (23.2) | 20.5 (22.8) | 17.9 (22.7) | 19.5 (23.8) | 18.5 (21.8) | 23.2 (27.8) |
| Medication useb | |||||||||
| Aspirin, % | 49 | 49 | 48 | 47 | 50 | 50 | 47 | 49 | 50 |
| Postmenopausal hormone therapy, % | 36 | 33 | 26 | 32 | 35 | 31 | 36 | 33 | 33 |
| Diuretics, % | 11 | 11 | 12 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| β-Blockers, % | 14 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 14 | 16 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| Calcium channel blockers, % | 11 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 11 |
| ACE inhibitors, % | 10 | 10 | 12 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| Other blood pressure medication, % | 9 | 8 | 11 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 8 |
| Statins, % | 18 | 18 | 24 | 15 | 18 | 23 | 17 | 19 | 17 |
| Other cholesterol-lowering drugs, % | 4 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 |
| Insulin, % | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Oral hypoglycemic drugs, % | 4 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| Cancer, % | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Heart disease, % | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| Diabetes, % | 6 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 4 |
| Number of frailty criteria, % | |||||||||
| 0 | 75 | 75 | 66 | 76 | 76 | 66 | 74 | 72 | 76 |
| 1 | 20 | 20 | 26 | 19 | 20 | 26 | 21 | 23 | 19 |
| 2 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Dietary intake | |||||||||
| SSBs, s/d | 0.00 (0.00–0.00) | 0.18 (0.14–0.21) | 2.50 (2.36–2.94) | 0.14 (0.00–0.48) | 0.07 (0.00–0.23) | 0.00 (0.00–0.10) | 0.00 (0.00–0.07) | 0.07 (0.00–0.21) | 0.14 (0.00–0.52) |
| ASBs, s/d | 0.43 (0.05–1.00) | 0.14 (0.00–0.64) | 0.00 (0.00–0.20) | 0.00 (0.00–0.00) | 0.17 (0.14–0.21) | 2.57 (2.42–3.22) | 0.24 (0.00–1.00) | 0.28 (0.00–0.87) | 0.07 (0.00–0.57) |
| Fruit juice, s/d | 0.43 (0.07–1.00) | 0.64 (0.25–1.07) | 0.64 (0.16–1.14) | 0.64 (0.15–1.07) | 0.59 (0.20–1.04) | 0.39 (0.07–0.97) | 0.00 (0.00–0.00) | 0.18 (0.14–0.21) | 2.50 (2.14–2.93) |
| Orange juice, s/d | 0.14 (0.00–0.49) | 0.36 (0.07–0.79) | 0.25 (0.07–0.79) | 0.29 (0.07–0.79) | 0.32 (0.07–0.79) | 0.14 (0.02–0.57) | 0.00 (0.00–0.00) | 0.07 (0.07–0.14) | 1.02 (1.00–2.50) |
| Other fruit juices, s/d | 0.07 (0.00–0.21) | 0.14 (0.06–0.42) | 0.14 (0.02–0.50) | 0.14 (0.00–0.43) | 0.14 (0.02–0.35) | 0.07 (0.00–0.23) | 0.00 (0.00–0.00) | 0.07 (0.04–0.14) | 1.07 (0.33–1.76) |
| Energy intake, kcal/d | 1,576 (1,301–1,886) | 1,771 (1,484–2,101) | 2,229 (1,870–2,567) | 1,714 (1,409–2,069) | 1,691 (1,403–2,024) | 1,726 (1,412–2,085) | 1,479 (1,208–1,790) | 1,596 (1,327–1,925) | 2,086 (1,760–2,440) |
| AHEI score | 52.4 (45.9–58.9) | 50.0 (43.9–56.1) | 43.0 (37.4–49.3) | 49.8 (43.0–56.8) | 51.6 (45.3–57.8) | 47.9 (41.8–54.5) | 51.0 (43.6–57.9) | 49.5 (43.2–56.0) | 51.4 (44.7–57.8) |
| Alcohol intake, g/d | 1.8 (0.0–8.7) | 1.5 (0.0–6.5) | 0.0 (0.0–2.5) | 1.1 (0.0–6.7) | 1.5 (0.0–6.7) | 0.9 (0.0–6.5) | 0.9 (0.0–5.8) | 1.2 (0.0–6.5) | 0.1 (0.0–6.7) |
ACE, angiotensin converting enzyme; AHEI, Alternate Healthy Eating Index; ASB, artificially sweetened beverage; BMI, body mass index; IQR, interquartile range; MET, metabolic equivalent task; NHS, Nurses’ Health Study; s, serving; SD, standard deviation; SSB, sugar-sweetened beverage.
Values are means (SD), dietary intake values are medians (IQR), unless otherwise indicated. Data, except age, were directly standardized to the age distribution of the entire cohort.
a Entry was age 60.
b One or more times per week.