Diet Quality, Measured by Fruit and Vegetable Intake, Predicts Weight Change in Young Women

Table 1

Demographic characteristics of young women in the Australian longitudinal study on women’s health (ALSWH) (𝑛=4,287) at baseline (2003) and followup (2009).

Characteristic	Baseline		Follow-up
	Total sample; (𝑛 = 4,287)	Valid TEI; (𝑛 = 1,356)	Total sample; (𝑛 = 4,287)	Valid TEI; (𝑛 = 1,356)
Anthropometry
Obesity (%)	15.7	11.6	20.6	16.7
Overweight (%);	22.5	19.6	25.0	23.6
BMI; mean ± SD	24.8±5.5	23.9±4.9	26.2±6.0	25.2±5.5
Weight (kg); mean ± SD	68.3±15.8	66.0±14.1	71.7±17.4	69.4±15.5
Diet quality index scores
ARFS	29.5±9.2	31.4±8.8	n/a	n/a
Aus-DQI	1.4±0.8	0.7±0.9	n/a	n/a
FAVI	78.0±39.7	94.1±26.9	n/a	n/a
Demographics
Age (years); mean ± SD	27.6±1.5	27.7±1.5	33.7±1.5	33.8±1.5
Total energy intake (kJ); mean ± SD	6980.7±2921.1	8975.3±1386.3	n/a	n/a
Physical activity in METs (nil/low/moderate/high); (%)	8.9/35.3/22.8/33.0	8.9/9.7/20.4/31.1	n/a	n/a
Smoking status (never/ex-smoker/current); proportion (%)	58.7/18.3/23.0	60.1/16.5/33.4	n/a	n/a
Residence (urban/rural/remote); proportion (%)	57.3/39.0/3.7	55.3/41.0/3.7	n/a	n/a
Highest education (nil/school certificate/trade/university degree); proportion (%)	1.5/31.0/3.3/64.3	1.0/29.9/3.1/66.0	n/a	n/a

TEI: total energy intake, ARFS: Australian recommended food score, FAVI: fruit and vegetables index, and Aus-DQI: Australian diet quality index.