Distribution of baseline characteristics of participants according to quartiles of adherence to Western, Mediterranean and Provegetarian dietary patterns
| Western dietary pattern | Mediterranean dietary pattern | Provegetarian dietary pattern | ||||
| Q1 | Q4 | Q1 | Q4 | Q1 | Q4 | |
| Frequency (n) | 4608 | 4607 | 3487 | 1846 | 4672 | 4350 |
| Sociodemographic data | ||||||
| Sex (men, %) | 29 | 50 | 39 | 41 | 39 | 40 |
| Age (years) | 40 (12) | 33 (10) | 33 (10) | 42 (13) | 34 (11) | 40 (12) |
| Civil status (%) | ||||||
| Single | 39 | 58 | 56 | 34 | 51 | 41 |
| Married | 54 | 39 | 41 | 60 | 44 | 54 |
| Others | 7 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 5 |
| Smoking status (%) | ||||||
| Current smoker | 21 | 28 | 27 | 25 | 30 | 23 |
| Former smoker | 31 | 18 | 16 | 34 | 20 | 28 |
| Studies (%) | ||||||
| Technical/non-graduated | 4 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 7 | 5 |
| Graduated | 76 | 74 | 74 | 77 | 75 | 74 |
| Master/doctoral | 20 | 17 | 17 | 19 | 18 | 21 |
| Food and nutrition | ||||||
| Total energy intake (Kcal/day) | 2064 (639) | 3184 (752) | 2347 (719) | 2724 (722) | 2634 (786) | 2539 (809) |
| Food items (g/day)* | ||||||
| Dairy products | 498 (281) | 411 (273) | 486 (255) | 386 (259) | 554 (296) | 330 (206) |
| Non-fat/low-fat dairy products | 359 (285) | 117 (200) | 188 (238) | 282 (262) | 257 (299) | 191 (209) |
| Fatty dairy products | 139 (109) | 294 (269) | 298 (215) | 104 (139) | 297 (251) | 139 (140) |
| Eggs | 19 (11) | 28 (25) | 26 (18) | 22 (16) | 30 (21) | 18 (12) |
| All types of meats | 117 (51) | 171 (82) | 162 (65) | 121 (62) | 179 (75) | 111 (52) |
| Red meat | 29 (21) | 53 (38) | 49 (32) | 32 (27) | 53 (35) | 31 (24) |
| White meat | 46 (34) | 49 (46) | 49 (38) | 46 (37) | 56 (48) | 39 (29) |
| Processed meat | 42 (23) | 69 (49) | 64 (36) | 43 (32) | 70 (43) | 41 (27) |
| Fish and seafood | 117 (66) | 86 (82) | 78 (58) | 128 (69) | 111 (86) | 92 (59) |
| Vegetables | 789 (441) | 486 (319) | 474 (265) | 832 (440) | 501 (308) | 782 (431) |
| Legumes | 17 (11) | 17 (15) | 15 (11) | 20 (14) | 15 (11) | 20 (14) |
| Fruits and nuts | 630 (448) | 256 (272) | 299 (251) | 597 (414) | 289 (263) | 578 (481) |
| Fresh fruit | 594 (441) | 238 (263) | 278 (245) | 562 (406) | 273 (258) | 540 (409) |
| Processed fruit | 25 (51) | 13 (34) | 15 (27) | 23 (51) | 12 (26) | 25 (53) |
| Nuts | 11 (17) | 5 (11) | 6 (8) | 12 (18) | 4 (9) | 13 (18) |
| Cereals | 124 (68) | 90 (77) | 95 (61) | 131 (76) | 86 (65) | 133 (72) |
| Oils and fats | 24 (15) | 17 (18) | 17 (13) | 25 (17) | 17 (15) | 23 (16) |
| Olive oil | 20 (14) | 11 (13) | 12 (11) | 21 (15) | 12 (12) | 20 (14) |
| Other oils | 2 (5) | 3 (8) | 2 (6) | 2 (7) | 2 (6) | 2 (7) |
| Margarine | 1 (2) | 1 (4) | 1 (3) | 1 (3) | 1 (3) | 1 (3) |
| Animal fats | 1 (1) | 2 (4) | 2 (3) | 1 (2) | 2 (3) | 0 (2) |
| Pastry products | 47 (35) | 54 (62) | 58 (49) | 41 (42) | 48 (45) | 58 (48) |
| Biscuits | 19 (29) | 11 (36) | 19 (35) | 13 (29) | 13 (30) | 19 (35) |
| Chocolate | 11 (12) | 13 (29) | 15 (23) | 9 (15) | 10 (17) | 13 (21) |
| Industrial bakery | 7 (8) | 21 (31) | 16 (21) | 8 (18) | 13 (18) | 12 (21) |
| Home-made bakery | 4 (7) | 5 (12) | 5 (10) | 4 (9) | 4 (8) | 5 (11) |
| Cakes | 2 (2) | 4 (5) | 3 (4) | 2 (4) | 2 (4) | 2 (4) |
| Fast food† | 8 (7) | 20 (18) | 17 (14) | 9 (11) | 17 (15) | 10 (10) |
| Beverages | 1219 (577) | 1114 (567) | 1092 (552) | 1248 (574) | 1151 (587) | 1177 (558) |
| Water | 968 (538) | 864 (513) | 868 (508) | 961 (530) | 898 (535) | 932 (518) |
| Red wine | 27 (61) | 23 (58) | 18 (49) | 37 (71) | 24 (63) | 27 (60) |
| Other alcoholic beverages | 64 (104) | 69 (137) | 56 (120) | 90 (127) | 75 (149) | 68 (116) |
| Sugared sodas | 23 (34) | 76 (146) | 58 (104) | 26 (61) | 58 (112) | 30 (60) |
| Regular coffee | 16 (33) | 9 (28) | 11 (26) | 15 (34) | 12 (28) | 14 (32) |
| Bottled juice | 1 (1) | 1 (1) | 1 (1) | 1 (1) | 1 (1) | 1 (1) |
| Nutrient intake (% total energy intake/day) | ||||||
| Fat | 33 (7) | 39 (5) | 40 (6) | 33 (6) | 39 (6) | 34 (6) |
| Saturated fatty acids | 10 (3) | 14 (3) | 15 (3) | 10 (2) | 15 (3) | 11 (3) |
| Monounsaturated fatty acids | 15 (4) | 16 (3) | 16 (3) | 15 (4) | 16 (3) | 15 (4) |
| Polyunsaturated fatty acids | 5 (1) | 6 (2) | 5 (2) | 5 (2) | 5 (2) | 5 (2) |
| Carbohydrates | 46 (8) | 42 (6) | 41 (7) | 47 (7) | 40 (7) | 47 (7) |
| Protein | 19 (4) | 17 (3) | 18 (3) | 18 (3) | 19 (3) | 16 (3) |
| Dietary fibre intake (g/day)* | 37 (13) | 23 (10) | 21 (7) | 40 (13) | 23 (9) | 37 (13) |
| Alcohol intake (g/day)* | 6 (9) | 7 (11) | 5 (9) | 10 (10) | 7 (12) | 6 (9) |
| Lifestyle data | ||||||
| Physical activity (METs-hour/week) | 29 (25) | 27 (25) | 23 (21) | 33 (28) | 26 (23) | 29 (26) |
| Time watching TV (hour/day) | 1.5 (1.1) | 1.6 (1.3) | 1.6 (1.3) | 1.6 (1.1) | 1.7 (1.3) | 1.5 (1.1) |
*Adjusted for energy intake through the residual method.
†Fast food includes hamburger, pizza and sausages.
Q1, first quartile; Q4, fourth quartile.