Fruit and vegetable consumption and proinflammatory gene expression from peripheral blood mononuclear cells in young adults: a translational study

Table 1 Anthropometrical, clinical and metabolic characteristics of participants, according to tertiles (T) of energy-adjusted fruit and vegetable consumption (n = 120)

Energy-adj. fruit and vegetable consumption	T1 (n = 39) < 384 g/d	T2 (n = 42) 384-660 g/d	T3 (n = 39) > 660 g/d	P-value^a
Age (y)	21 ± 2^b	21 ± 3	21 ± 3	0.509
Body mass index (kg/m²)	22.6 ± 3.0^c	22.4 ± 2.8	21.7 ± 2.89	0.028
Waist circumference (cm)	76.8 ± 8.3^c	74.3 ± 8.8	70.9 ± 8.3	0.025
Systolic BP (mmHg)	117 ± 11^c	115 ± 11	111 ± 10	0.015
Diastolic BP (mmHg)	67 ± 7^c	66 ± 7	63 ± 8	0.018
Glucose (mg/dl)	85.8 ± 7.6	85.4 ± 9.4	85.2 ± 7.3	0.155
Insulin (μIU/l)	7.2 ± 2.9	8.2 ± 3.9	7.4 ± 3.5	0.966
HOMA-IR	1.6 ± 0.7	1.8 ± 0.9	1.6 ± 0.7	0.662
Total cholesterol (mg/dl)	175 ± 26	179 ± 26	169 ± 29	0.294
LDL-c (mg/dl)	102 ± 21	104 ± 23	101 ± 27	0.824
HDL-c (mg/dl)	60 ± 15	61 ± 12	56 ± 12.3	0.242
Triglycerides (mg/dl)	67 ± 29	71 ± 27	63 ± 23	0.385
NEFA (mmol/l)	0.43 ± 0.22	0.37 ± 0.14	0.32 ± 0.22	0.116
CRP (mg/l)	1.3 ± 0.8	1.1 ± 0.8	1.0 ± 0.7	0.217
Homocysteine (μmol/l)	15.0 ± 7.6^c	12.6 ± 3.2	10.0 ± 3.2	0.013
IL6 (pg/ml)	1.3 ± 0.5	1.2 ± 0.6	1.2 ± 0.8	0.607
TNFα (pg/ml)	2.3 ± 1.2	1.8 ± 1.5	1.6 ± 1.2	0.577
Self-reported PA n, (%)	21 (61.5)	24 (50)	25 (66)	0.237
MET (h-week)	35.7 ± 32.7	38.2 ± 27.3	42.7 ± 27.5	0.480
Smoking Never n, (%)	22 (56.4)	28 (66.7)	27 (71.1)	0.269
Former n, (%)	4 (10.3)	5 (11.9)	3 (7.9)
Current n, (%)	13 (33.3)	9 (21.4)	8 (21.1)

^aP-value from ANOVA test or χ² test, for continuous or categorical variables, respectively.
^bContinuous variables are presented as mean values ± standard deviation, while categorical variables are presented as absolute number and frequencies.
^c P < 0.05, T1 vs. T3; from post hoc Tukey test to correct for multiple comparisons.
BP, blood pressure; HOMA-IR, insulin resistance index; LDL-c, low density lipoprotein-cholesterol; HDL-c, high density lipoprotein-cholesterol; NEFA, non-esterified fatty acid; CRP, C-reactive protein; IL6, interleukin-6; TNFα, tumor necrosis factor-alpha; MET, activity metabolic equivalent.

ISSN: 1743-7075