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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 Jul 1.
Published in final edited form as: Gastroenterology. 2021 Mar 19;161(1):128–142.e20. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2021.03.028

Table 1.

Baseline characteristics of participants by total fructose and sugar-sweetened beverage intake during adolescence in the Nurses’ Health Study IIa

Intake during adolescence
Total fructose (% of calorie)
SSB (serving)
Q1 (<7.9) Q3 (9.2–10.3) Q5 (≥11.8) <1/wk 1–6/wk ≥1/d
(n = 6,598) (n = 6,682) (n = 6,639) (n = 13,732) (n = 14,545) (n = 4,163)
Age at 1998 questionnaire return (y) 44.6 (4.4) 44.2 (4.6) 43.7 (4.5) 44.2 (4.5) 44.3 (4.5) 43.7 (4.5)
Birth year, %
 1946–1949 21.8 21.1 17.3 42.0 47.0 11.0
 1950–1954 21.7 20.2 18.4 42.6 45.4 12.0
 1955–1959 18.9 19.7 21.2 42.1 44.5 13.4
 1960–1965 16.9 20.4 23.2 42.5 42.5 15.0
Number of endoscopies during the study period (n) 1.2 (0.5) 1.2 (0.5) 1.2 (0.5) 1.2 (0.5) 1.2 (0.5) 1.2 (0.5)
Time since most recent endoscopy (y) 1.4 (3.8) 1.4 (3.8) 1.4 (3.8) 1.4 (3.8) 1.4 (3.8) 1.5 (4.0)
Endoscopy for clinical symptoms or signsb, % 23.4 22.5 24.3 21.6 23.9 25.7
Adult height (inches) 64.8 (2.6) 64.9 (2.6) 64.9 (2.6) 65.0 (2.6) 64.9 (2.6) 64.8 (2.6)
BMI at age 18 y (kg/m2) 21.4 (3.3) 21.1 (3.0) 21.0 (3.2) 21.4 (3.2) 20.9 (3.0) 21.0 (3.4)
Current BMI (kg/m2) 26.4 (6.0) 26.0 (5.8) 26.3 (6.1) 26.1 (6) 26.0 (5.8) 26.9 (6.3)
Smoking before 20 y of age, % 21.9 21.9 24.0 19.4 23.2 30.3
Current smoker, % 6.5 5.6 6.3 4.7 5.8 9.2
Physical activity at grades 9–12 (MET-h/wk) 49.1 (36.1) 51.1 (35.1) 54.5 (37.6) 50.0 (35.6) 52.9 (36.5) 54.7 (37.9)
Current physical activity (MET-h/wk) 17.5 (21.1) 19.0 (22.6) 20.5 (26.0) 20.4 (24.3) 18.4 (22.0) 17.4 (24.4)
Premenopause, % 47.0 48.7 47.5 48.6 48.5 44.4
Family history of CRC, % 22.4 22.8 22.2 22.6 22.0 23.9
Diabetes, % 4.8 4.3 4.6 4.1 3.9 5.8
Current aspirin use (≥2 d/wk), % 12.6 11.3 13.5 11.8 12.7 13.9
Food and nutrient intake during adolescencec
 Unprocessed red meat (g/d) 120 (60) 109 (48) 94 (46) 102 (52) 110 (50) 119 (51)
 Processed red meat (g/d) 24 (22) 23 (18) 20 (17) 20 (18) 24 (19) 26 (21)
 Fruits (serving/d) 1.0 (0.6) 1.6 (0.8) 2.1 (1.5) 1.6 (1.1) 1.5 (1.0) 1.3 (1.0)
 Vegetables (serving/d) 2.7 (1.6) 3.2 (1.7) 3.4 (2.1) 3.3 (1.9) 3.1 (1.7) 2.9 (1.7)
 Total dairy (serving/d) 3.0 (1.6) 2.9 (1.4) 2.3 (1.4) 2.8 (1.5) 2.8 (1.5) 2.7 (1.5)
 SSBs (serving/wk) 1.1 (1.5) 2.4 (2.6) 7.3 (7.6) 0.4 (0.4) 3.2 (1.7) 12.5 (6.7)
 ASBs (serving/wk) 2.8 (5.8) 2.4 (5.1) 2.1 (5.1) 3.4 (6.4) 1.5 (3.5) 1.5 (4.5)
 Fruit juice (serving/wk) 2.7 (2.8) 5.1 (3.9) 6.7 (6.4) 4.9 (4.7) 5.1 (4.6) 4.6 (4.4)
 Total fructose (% of calorie)d 6.7 (1.0) 9.7 (0.3) 13.6 (1.8) 9.0 (2.3) 10.1 (2.1) 12.6 (2.7)
 Glucose (from simple sugars, % of calorie)d 6.7 (1.0) 9.5 (0.6) 13.2 (1.9) 8.7 (2.1) 9.8 (2.0) 12.5 (2.7)
 Added sugar (% of calorie)d 9.5 (2.3) 13.6 (2.6) 19.9 (5.4) 11.7 (3.6) 14.6 (3.6) 20.8 (5.4)
 Total sugar (% of calorie)d 18.7 (3.0) 23.7 (2.0) 30.3 (3.7) 22.5 (4.3) 24.3 (4.0) 28.7 (5.1)
 Calcium (mg/d) 1234 (402) 1090 (316) 919 (272) 1157 (373) 1065 (320) 925 (274)
 Vitamin D (IU/d) 410 (212) 347 (178) 283 (175) 379 (211) 341 (174) 277 (163)
 Folate (μg/d) 301 (89) 328 (96) 334 (116) 345 (112) 316 (90) 281 (80)
 Fiber (g/d) 18.6 (4.6) 21.1 (4.6) 22.3 (6.4) 21.9 (5.9) 20.4 (4.6) 18.7 (4.2)
 Glycemic index 54.6 (2.9) 54.7 (2.5) 55.8 (2.9) 54.1 (2.7) 55.1 (2.4) 57 (2.6)
 Glycemic load 148 (22) 169 (16) 196 (21) 165 (25) 171 (22) 187 (25)
 Alcohol (g/d) 0.3 (2.3) 0.3 (2.0) 0.3 (1.8) 0.2 (1.7) 0.3 (1.7) 0.5 (2.5)
Current (adult) food and nutrient intakec, e
 Unprocessed red meat (g/d) 58 (35) 56 (33) 53 (33) 51 (33) 58 (33) 64 (35)
 Processed red meat (g/d) 8 (7) 8 (7) 7 (7) 7 (7) 8 (7) 9 (8)
 Fruits (serving/d) 1.1 (0.7) 1.3 (0.8) 1.4 (1.0) 1.4 (0.8) 1.3 (0.8) 1.1 (0.8)
 Vegetables (serving/d) 3.4 (1.8) 3.7 (1.8) 3.8 (2.2) 3.8 (2.0) 3.6 (1.8) 3.5 (1.9)
 Total dairy (serving/d) 2.1 (1.1) 2.2 (1.1) 1.9 (1.1) 2.1 (1.1) 2.1 (1.1) 1.9 (1.1)
 SSBs (serving/wk) 2.0 (3.4) 2.6 (3.9) 4.1 (6.0) 1.7 (2.8) 3.2 (4.2) 5.4 (7.2)
 ASBs (serving/wk) 6.3 (7.9) 5.9 (7.4) 6.8 (8.6) 6.0 (7.7) 5.6 (7.1) 8.3 (9.5)
 Fruit juice (serving/wk) 3.6 (3.7) 4.7 (4.2) 5.3 (5.0) 4.5 (4.3) 4.8 (4.3) 4.3 (4.2)
 Total fructose (% of calorie)d 8.4 (2.6) 9.4 (2.6) 10.6 (3.2) 9.1 (2.5) 9.7 (2.8) 10.2 (3.7)
 Glucose (from simple sugars, % of calorie)d 8.2 (2.5) 9.2 (2.4) 10.3 (3.0) 8.8 (2.4) 9.4 (2.6) 10.0 (3.5)
 Added sugar (% of calorie)d 9.8 (4.4) 10.9 (4.5) 12.6 (6.0) 9.9 (4.0) 11.5 (4.9) 13.3 (6.8)
 Total sugar (% of calorie)d 21.4 (5.6) 23.0 (5.4) 24.8 (6.4) 22.6 (5.4) 23.4 (5.7) 24.0 (7.2)
 Calcium (mg/d) 1239 (421) 1228 (406) 1173 (427) 1274 (418) 1189 (397) 1100 (403)
 Vitamin D (IU/d) 443 (219) 432 (212) 409 (222) 452 (220) 418 (206) 381 (209)
 Folate (μg/d) 562 (208) 573 (204) 577 (214) 598 (214) 562 (200) 525 (200)
 Fiber (g/d) 19.2 (4.7) 20.0 (4.8) 20.1 (5.4) 20.9 (5.2) 19.4 (4.6) 18.0 (4.6)
 Alcohol (g/d) 4.4 (7.0) 4.4 (6.5) 4.0 (6.3) 4.3 (6.5) 4.3 (6.4) 4.5 (7.3)

CRC, colorectal cancer; SSB, sugar-sweetened beverage; ASB, artificially sweetened beverage; BMI, body mass index; IU, international units; MET, metabolic equivalent of tasks; Q, quintile

a

Means (SD) are presented for continuous variables; percentages for categorical variables. All variables other than age in 1998 and birth year were standardized to the age distribution of the study population.

b

Includes bleeding in stool, positive test for occult fecal blood, diarrhea or constipation, and abdominal pain.

c

Nutrients are energy-adjusted values unless otherwise indicated.

d

From mono- and disaccharide sugars. Total sugar intake was sum of free fructose, free glucose, sucrose, and maltose intake.

e

Intake from 1999 food frequency questionnaire.