Table 1 Baseline characteristics of participants in the derivation and validation cohorts

N

255,482

83,101

172,381

74,403

29,259

45,144

Age at recruitment, years, mean (SD)

51.4 (9.7)

52.3 (9.0)

51.0 (9.9)

49.7 (9.6)

50.7 (9.3)

49.0 (9.8)

Age range, years

19.5 to 70.0

19.5 to 70.0

20.0 to 70.0

19.9 to 70.0

20.1 to 69.2

19.9 to 70.0

BMI, kg/m², mean (SD)

25.8 (4.3)

26.6 (3.6)

25.4 (4.5)

26.0 (4.2)

26.6 (3.6)

25.7 (4.5)

Waist, cm, mean (SD)

84.6 (12.9)

94.6 (10.0)

79.8 (11.3)

86.0 (12.5)

94.0 (10.2)

80.8 (11.0)

Height, cm, mean (SD)

165.8 (9.1)

174.3 (7.3)

161.7 (6.7)

167.3 (9.6)

175.5 (7.3)

162.1 (6.9)

Postmenopausal status, %

49.5

41.8

Ever use of hormone for menopause, %

26.0

23.8

 Smoker

23.5

31.3

19.7

27.0

32.3

23.5

 Former

27.4

36.2

23.1

27.8

37.3

21.6

 Never

49.1

32.4

57.2

45.3

30.4

54.9

 Inactive

19.1

29.4

14.2

18.3

25.3

13.7

 Moderately inactive

30.3

32.9

29.0

27.2

30.0

25.4

 Moderately active

40.2

29.3

45.5

43.5

33.7

49.9

 Active

10.3

8.5

11.2

11.0

11.0

11.0

 None

5.9

4.9

6.3

3.1

2.4

3.6

 Primary school completed

27.0

30.6

25.2

29.2

24.8

32.1

 Technical school/professional school

22.4

22.7

22.3

31.1

29.8

31.9

 Secondary school

16.2

11.9

18.3

13.4

11.4

14.7

 University degree

24.6

27.4

23.3

23.0

31.5

17.5

 Not specified

4.0

2.5

4.7

0.2

0.2

0.3

 Alcohol

6.6 (1.1 to 17.1)

14.4 (5.0 to 32.3)

4.1 (0.6 to 11.9)

7.8 (1.5 to 19.7)

16.4 (6.7 to 32.9)

4.2 (0.6 to 11.8)

 Vegetables

196.9 (124.4 to 301.8)

179.7 (110.8 to 287.8)

204.9 (131.5 to 307.4)

130.0 (92.8 to 183.2)

124.0 (88.1 to 174.7)

133.9 (95.9 to 189.1)

 Fruits

215.1 (117.1 to 340.8)

176.6 (88.5 to 313.3)

232.7 (132.4 to 351.8)

161.0 (94.1 to 264.7)

127.4 (73.9 to 225.3)

186.0 (105.6 to 290.3)

 Dark bread

28.6 (0.0 to 91.8)

34.9 (0.0 to 112.5)

27.9 (0.0 to 87.8)

91.4 (15.0 to 150.2)

115.8 (49.3 to 179.6)

73.2 (8.0 to 128.0)

 Dairy products

283.0 (159.5 to 447.5)

257.3 (130.0 to 434.3)

295.2 (173.1 to 451.7)

265.1 (150.0 to 434.7)

256.8 (136.7 to 447.0)

270.2 (158.8 to 428.7)

 Red meat

38.2 (17.3 to 65.4)

49.7 (24.8 to 80.5)

33.8 (13.9 to 57.3)

44.8 (23.9 to 74.5)

61.9 (33.5 to 93.1)

36.9 (19.8 to 61.1)

 Poultry

16.1 (5.8 to 30.9)

16.4 (7.3 to 34.3)

15.8 (4.8 to 29.3)

13.2 (6.5 to 24.3)

14.6 (7.3 to 25.5)

12.4 (5.9 to 23.4)

 Processed meat

19.2 (6.4 to 37.9)

27.9 (10.8 to 51.9)

16.4 (5.4 to 31.8)

34.5 (17.9 to 59.6)

47.6 (27.4 to 76.7)

27.8 (14.6 to 48.7)

 Fish

21.4 (9.3 to 37.0)

24.3 (12.6 to 41.2)

19.7 (7.7 to 34.9)

16.1 (6.0 to 30.3)

17.6 (6.3 to 32.2)

15.3 (5.9 to 27.9)

 Sugar and confectionary

31.6 (16.3 to 55.2)

36.9 (19.2 to 65.0)

29.6 (15.2 to 51.0)

35.3 (18.7 to 60.0)

41.0 (21.7 to 70.3)

32.3 (17.1 to 54.1)

 Soft drinks

9.5 (0.0 to 85.7)

16.4 (0.0 to 100.0)

6.6 (0.0 to 74.3)

8.7 (0.0 to 85.7)

19.3 (0.0 to 118.7)

3.8 (0.0 to 66.0)