Age- and sex-adjusted baseline characteristics of participants by sex-specific quartile of dietary calcium intake and calcium supplementation status, the EPIC-Heidelberg cohort, 1994–1998
| Characteristics | Total dietary calcium intake in quartiles* | Calcium supplementation | |||||
| 1 (low) | 2 | 3 | 4 (high) | Calcium supplements | Other supplements | No supplements used | |
| No of participants† | 5986 | 5993 | 5998 | 6003 | 851 | 7170 | 15 959 |
| Total dietary calcium intake* (mg/day) | 513 | 675 | 820 | 1130‡ | 828 | 820 | 766‡ |
| Dairy calcium intake* (mg/day) | 188 | 330 | 466 | 780‡ | 477 | 470 | 426‡ |
| Non-dairy calcium intake* (mg/day) | 324 | 345 | 353 | 351‡ | 352 | 349 | 340‡ |
| Dietary vitamin D intake* (μg/day) | 3.0 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.4‡ | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.2‡ |
| Dietary intake of saturated fatty acids* (g/day) | 30.0 | 30.8 | 31.3 | 32.3‡ | 30.6 | 30.7 | 31.3‡ |
| Dietary intake of total protein* (g/day) | 65.2 | 67.3 | 69.5 | 74.5‡ | 70.3 | 69.2 | 69.0 |
| Smoking duration (years) | 13.5 | 11.8 | 11.5 | 11.7‡ | 13.0 | 12.3 | 12.0‡ |
| Lifetime alcohol intake (g/day) | 21.3 | 17.7 | 15.2 | 13.8‡ | 17.3 | 17.1 | 17.0 |
| Age at recruitment (years) | 51.2 | 50.6 | 50.3 | 50.5‡ | 53.6 | 51.8 | 50.0‡ |
| Women (%) | 54.1 | 54.0 | 54.2 | 54.0 | 72.4 | 60.9 | 49.8‡ |
| University degree (%) | 21.5 | 28.6 | 33.2 | 38.1‡ | 25.2 | 33.8 | 29.1‡ |
| Physically active (%) | 22.0 | 24.1 | 24.2 | 29.3‡ | 32.7 | 25.6 | 24.2‡ |
| BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 (%) | 57.8 | 56.9 | 54.9 | 53.1‡ | 50.9 | 51.8 | 57.6‡ |
| Current smokers (%) | 28.8 | 22.1 | 20.9 | 21.5‡ | 23.9 | 22.1 | 23.9‡ |
| Hypertension at recruitment§ (%) | 29.2 | 29.1 | 27.8 | 28.2 | 26.7 | 28.9 | 28.6 |
| Hyperlipidaemia at recruitment§ (%) | 35.6 | 36.7 | 34.5 | 35.0 | 38.8 | 37.0 | 34.6‡ |
| Diabetes mellitus at recruitment§ (%) | 3.1 | 3.5 | 3.4 | 4.8‡ | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.8 |
| Use of anti-hypertensive drugs (%) | 13.6 | 14.7 | 13.5 | 14.3 | 13.8 | 16.3 | 13.0‡ |
| Use of lipid-lowering drugs (%) | 3.3 | 3.7 | 4.0 | 3.9 | 4.9 | 4.4 | 3.3‡ |
| Use of NSAIDs (%) | 6.0 | 5.5 | 5.7 | 6.5 | 9.6 | 8.0 | 4.8‡ |
| Use of calcium supplements (%) | 3.1 | 3.2 | 3.5 | 4.4‡ | |||
↵* Adjusted for total energy intake using the residual method. The cut-off points were 603, 748 and 924 mg/day for men and 610, 738 and 898 mg/day for women.
↵† Participants with a diagnosis of myocardial infarction, stroke, or transient ischaemic attack at recruitment and participants whose total energy intake fell into the top or bottom 0.5 sex-specific centile (men: <887/>5582 kcal/day; women: <703/>4381 kcal/day) were excluded.
↵‡ p<0.05. Values are either percentages or means.
↵§ Self-reported.
BMI, body mass index; EPIC, European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition; NSAIDS, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.