Table 1.

Scoring criteria for the PVG food patterns^a

Component	Included foods	gPVGc	hPVG	uPVG
Plant food groupsb
1. Vegetables	Swiss chard, spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, tomatoes, carrot, green beans, zucchini, eggplant, cucumber, peppers, asparagus, onion, other fresh vegetables	Positive	Positive	Reverse
2. Fruits	Citrus, banana, apple, pear, strawberry, cherry, peach, fig, melon, watermelon, grapes, kiwi, canned fruit	Positive	Positive	Reverse
3. Legumes	Lentils, beans, chickpeas, peas	Positive	Positive	Reverse
4. Whole grains	Whole-grain bread, muesli, brown rice, whole-grain pasta	Positive	Positive	Reverse
5. Refined grains	White bread, breakfast cereals, white rice, white pasta	Positive	Reverse	Positive
6. Potatoes*	Potato chips, French fries, boiled potatoes	Positive	Reverse	Positive
7. Nuts	Almonds, pistachios, walnuts, other nuts	Positive	Positive	Reverse
8. Olive oil	Refined olive oil, extra-virgin olive oil, olive pomace oil	Positive	Positive	Reverse
9. Tea and coffee	Caffeinated coffee, decaffeinated coffee, tea	Not scored	Positive	Reverse
10. Fruit juices	Orange juice, other natural fruits juice	Not scored	Reverse	Positive
11. Sugar-sweetened beverages	Regular soft drinks, low calorie soft drinks, fruit flavored punch or noncarbonated beverages	Not scored	Reverse	Positive
12. Sweets and desserts	Cookies, chocolate cookies, whole-grain cookies, home-made cakes and biscuits, croissant, tea pastries, industrial cakes, donuts, cupcake, muffin, chocolate, cocoa powder, nougat, marzipan, sugar	Not scored	Reverse	Positive
Animal food groups
13. Meat/meat products	Chicken or turkey with or without skin, beef, pork, lamb, rabbit, liver, viscera, Parma ham, cooked ham, cured meats, salami, mortadella, spicy pork sausage, hot dogs, foie gras, hamburger, bacon	Reverse	Reverse	Reverse
14. Animal fats for cooking or as a spread	Butter, lard	Reverse	Reverse	Reverse
15. Eggs	Eggs	Reverse	Reverse	Reverse
16. Fish and other seafood	White fish, blue fish, salad or smoked fish, clams, squid, shrimp, oil canned fish, natural canned fish	Reverse	Reverse	Reverse
17. Dairy products	Whole milk, skim or low-fat milk, condensed milk, cream, milk shake, full fat yogurt, low-fat yogurt, cheese, custard, ice cream	Reverse	Reverse	Reverse

^aPositive indicates that higher consumption of this food group received higher scores. Reverse indicates that higher consumption of this food group received lower scores

^bIn the hPVG food pattern, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, potatoes* (boiled), tea, and coffee were considered “healthy plant foods.” Refined grains, French fries and chips*, fruit juices, sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages, and sweets and desserts were considered “unhealthy plant foods.” The gPVG food pattern did not differentiate plant foods as healthy or unhealthy

^cIn the gPVG food pattern, consumption of whole grains and refined grains was aggregated as the “grains” food group