Table 2.

Sociodemographic and health characteristics of British adults, by tertile of total red meat and processed red meat (TRPRM) intake^a

	Total n = 1758	Tertiles of total red and processed red meat (TRPRM) (g/d)
		1 (0–39) n = 582	2 (40–85) n = 593	3 (86–344) n = 583	P
Total red and processed red meat, g/d	71.5 ± 71.4	15.6 ± 17.7	61.6 ± 17.7	132.9 ± 57.7	0.0001
Red meat, g/d	36.8 ± 48.8	7.9 ± 14.3	32.1 ± 27.4	68.0 ± 56.8	0.0001
Processed red meat, g/d	34.8 ± 48.9	7.7 ± 13.0	29.6 ± 26.3	64.9 ± 60.2	0.0001
Total red and processed meat < or = 70 g/d, %	57	100	74	0
Age, y	40.8 ± 12.1	40.7 ± 12.2	41.1 ± 12.4	40.6 ± 11.7	0.789
Men, %	46	32	39	65	0.0001
Qualifications, %					0.0001
Degree or equivalent	27	34	24	22
Higher education, below degree level	12	12	14	10
GCE, A level or equivalent	18	13	20	20
GCSE grades A–C or equivalent	19	17	19	22
GCSE grades D–G/Commercial qualifications/apprenticeship/foreign/other qualifications	5	6	5	7
No qualifications/no response/still in education	19	18	19	19
Equalized annual household income, £b	28,880 ± 25,214	28,880 ± 27,489	28,671 ± 24,170	29, 070 ± 23, 898	0.964
Socio-economic classification, %c					0.016
Higher managerial and professional occupations	16	20	16	14
Lower managerial and professional occupations	25	24	28	24
Intermediate occupations	10	9	11	9
Small employers and own account workers	11	11	9	13
Lower supervisory and technical occupations	9	7	8	12
Semi-routine occupations	13	13	12	13
Routine occupations	11	10	11	12
Never worked/other	4	6	4	3
Ethnic group, %					0.0001
White	92	88	93	94
Any other group	9	13	7	6
Number of daily cigarettes, %					0.0001
Non-smoker	54	61	57	46
Ex-smoker	18	17	17	19
Current smoker	28	22	26	35
Has longstanding illness, % yes	20	21	19	19	0.779

^aValues are means ± SD or percentages unless otherwise stated. NS, not significant. Differences between total red and processed red meat tertiles (TRPRM) for continuous variables were assessed using ANOVA and for categorical variables Chi-square test for independence was used

^bThe calculation of the equivalised income involves calculating a McClement score for each household (dependent on number, age and relationships of adults and children in the household), and then dividing the total household income by this score to get an equivalised household income

^cBased on national statistics socioeconomic classification [40]