Lifestyle Behaviours and Plasma Vitamin C and 𝜷-Carotene Levels from the ELAN Population (Liège, Belgium)

Table 2

Vitamin C and β-carotene plasma concentrations according to subject's characteristics. Data are expressed as mean ± SD.

Characteristics	Vitamin C (mg/L)	𝑃 value	β-carotene (mg/L)	𝑃 value
Gender
Men	9.0 ± 3.4	<.0001	0.24 ± 0.18	<.0001
Women	10.5 ± 4.1		0.35 ± 0.28
Smoking
No	10.4 ± 3.7	<.0001	0.34 ± 0.27	<.0001
Yes	8.5 ± 4.1		0.21 ± 0.15
BMI
<25 kg/m²	10.3 ± 3.9	.0026	0.36 ± 0.30	<.0001
>25 kg/m²	9.5 ± 3.9		0.25 ± 0.19
Intestinal disorders
No	9.8 ± 3.9	.48	0.31 ± 0.26	.40
Yes	10.1 ± 3.8		0.29 ± 0.21
Physical activity
No	9.5 ± 4.2	<.0005	0.28 ± 0.24	<.0001
Yes	10.4 ± 3.3		0.35 ± 0.26
Living environmental
Rural	10.1 ± 3.6	.31	0.30 ± 0.22	.40
Semi rural	9.6 ± 3.6		0.31 ± 0.29
Urban	9.8 ± 3.9		0.32 ± 0.26
Oral contraceptives
No	9.8 ± 3.9	.26	0.36 ± 0.27	.0020
Yes	10.8 ± 4.2		0.22 ± 0.18
Fruit consumption
None	8.4 ± 4.2	<.0001	0.23 ± 0.2	.0001
1-2 fruits/day	9.7 ± 3.8		0.30 ± 0.24
2-3/fruits/day	11.2 ± 3.9		0.35 ± 0.24
>3 fruits/day	11.5 ± 2.9		0.42 ± 0.37
Social class
I	9.9 ± 3.2	.12	0.35 ± 0.24	.0006
II	9.7 ± 3.2		0.28 ± 0.27
IIIa	9.4 ± 3.5		0.26 ± 0.23
IIIb	10.4 ± 3.5		0.34 ± 0.28
IV	9.5 ± 4.6		0.26 ± 0.24
Va	9.5 ± 3.2		0.22 ± 0.13
Vb	9.5 ± 4.6		0.29 ± 0.21