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. 2022 May 5;61(7):3377–3390. doi: 10.1007/s00394-022-02892-1

Table 2.

Spearman correlation coefficients between dietary scores and dietary markers

Dietary marker DASH score MD score DII score E-DII score
ρ coefficient p ρ coefficient p ρ coefficient p ρ coefficient p
Macronutrients
Fat, g/d − 0.246  < .001 − 0.073 .002 − 0.504  < .001 0.406  < .001
SFA, g/d − 0.326  < .001 − 0.242  < .001 − 0.331  < .001 0.561  < .001
PUFA, g/d − 0.093  < .001 0.115  < .001 − 0.602  < .001 0.130  < .001
MUFA, g/d − 0.262  < .001 − 0.046 .048 − 0.493  < .001 0.386  < .001
Carbohydrate, g/d − 0.015 .523 0.153  < .001 − 0.705  < .001 0.117  < .001
Protein, g/d − 0.071 .002 0.121  < .001 − 0.702  < .001 0.056 .016
Sugar, g/d 0.153  < .001 0.219  < .001 − 0.656  < .001 − 0.003 .889
Fibre, g/d 0.309  < .001 0.411  < .001 − 0.872  < .001 − 0.238  < .001
Alcohol, ml/d − 0.054 .019 0.088  < .001 − 0.089  < .001 − 0.039 .09
Cholesterol, mg/d − 0.286  < .001 − 0.122  < .001 − 0.391  < .001 0.333  < .001
Micronutrients
Sodium, mg/d − 0.181  < .001 0.084  < .001 − 0.597  < .001 0.178  < .001
Niacin, mg/d − 0.016 .493 0.222  < .001 − 0.721  < .001 − 0.076 .001
Thiamine, mg/d 0.030 .19 0.174  < .001 − 0.782  < .001 − 0.061 .009
Riboflavin, mg/d 0.046 .047 0.136  < .001 − 0.704  < .001 − 0.015 .51
Vitamin B12, μg/d − 0.047 .041 0.097  < .001 − 0.481  < .001 − 0.041 .076
Vitamin B6, mg/d 0.089  < .001 0.245  < .001 − 0.813  < .001 − 0.154  < .001
Iron, mg/d 0.055 .017 0.240  < .001 − 0.794  < .001 − 0.067 .004
Magnesium, mg/d 0.224  < .001 0.349  < .001 − 0.862  < .001 − 0.163  < .001
Zinc, mg/d − 0.087  < .001 0.073 .002 − 0.662  < .001 0.054 .02
Selenium, μg/d − 0.119  < .001 0.067 .004 − 0.562  < .001 0.102  < .001
Retinol, μg/d − 0.192  < .001 − 0.163  < .001 − 0.269  < .001 0.309  < .001
Carotene, μg/d 0.329  < .001 0.305  < .001 − 0.635  < .001 − 0.303  < .001
Vitamin C, mg/d 0.474  < .001 0.407  < .001 − 0.765  < .001 − 0.494  < .001
Vitamin D, μg/d − 0.145  < .001 0.061 .009 − 0.472  < .001 0.114  < .001
Vitamin E, mg/d 0.183  < .001 0.282  < .001 − 0.707  < .001 − 0.175  < .001
Folic acid, μg/d 0.230  < .001 0.316  < .001 − 0.868  < .001 − 0.250  < .001
Food items
Red meat, g/d − 0.476  < .001 − 0.248  < .001 − 0.205  < .001 0.274  < .001
Fried fish, g/d − 0.185  < .001 0.007 .751 0.002 .937 0.220  < .001
White fish, g/d 0.192  < .001 0.262  < .001 − 0.283  < .001 − 0.209  < .001
Oily fish, g/d 0.268  < .001 0.338  < .001 − 0.394  < .001 − 0.321  < .001
Shellfish, g/d 0.133  < .001 0.154  < .001 − 0.165  < .001 − 0.148  < .001
Fruits, g/d 0.588  < .001 0.415  < .001 − 0.586  < .001 − 0.431  < .001
Vegetables, g/d 0.455  < .001 0.435  < .001 − 0.701  < .001 − 0.481  < .001
Legumes, g/d 0.270  < .001 0.524  < .001 − 0.415  < .001 − 0.178  < .001
Whole grains, g/d 0.287  < .001 0.294  < .001 − 0.426  < .001 − 0.185  < .001
Nuts, g/d 0.184  < .001 0.239  < .001 − 0.230  < .001 − 0.083  < .001
Onions, g/d 0.161  < .001 0.201  < .001 − 0.348  < .001 − 0.188  < .001
Garlic, g/d 0.270  < .001 0.241  < .001 − 0.276  < .001 − 0.264  < .001
Tea, g/d − 0.060 .011 − 0.051 .029 − 0.091  < .001 0.108  < .001
Low fat dairy, g/d 0.493  < .001 0.170  < .001 − 0.336  < .001 − 0.244  < .001
Sweet snacks, g/d − 0.487  < .001 − 0.138  < .001 − 0.076 .001 0.469  < .001
Salty snacks, g/d − 0.427  < .001 − 0.032 .171 − 0.199  < .001 0.183  < .001
Food pyramid shelf servingsa
Bread, cereal, potatoes, grains and rice − 0.039 .09 0.077 .001 − 0.491  < .001 0.097  < .001
Fruit and vegetables 0.580  < .001 0.511  < .001 − 0.780  < .001 − 0.526  < .001
Dairy − 0.001 .968 − 0.007 .752 − 0.197  < .001 0.124  < .001
Meat, fish, poultry and eggs − 0.270  < .001 − 0.016 .485 − 0.401  < .001 0.133  < .001
High fat/sugar foods/drinks − 0.410  < .001 − 0.165  < .001 − 0.215  < .001 0.516  < .001

p value of < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. p values are highlighted in bold

Values are presented as Spearman correlation coefficients between continuous dietary scores and dietary markers among the Mitchelstown Cohort (n = 1862). Significant p highlighted. For the DASH and MD, lower scores represent poorer and higher scores represent better quality diet. For the DII and E-DII, higher scores are more pro-inflammatory and lower scores are anti-inflammatory

DII DASH: Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, Dietary Inflammatory Index, E-DII Energy-adjusted Dietary Inflammatory Index, MD Mediterranean Diet, MUFA monounsaturated fatty acids, PUFA polyunsaturated fatty acids, SFA saturated fatty acids

aDaily number of servings based on Irish food pyramid recommendations [39]