Dietary Antioxidant and Flavonoid Intakes Are Reduced in the Elderly

Table 1

Baseline characteristics of the participants (mean ± standard deviation or %).

Characteristics	Men			Women
	20–40 y.	41–60 y.	61–74 y.	20–40 y.	41–60 y.	61–74 y.
	Number
	1179	1375	578	1374	1513	642
Age (y.)	29.5 ± 6.3	50.2 ± 5.3	67.1 ± 3.9	29.6 ± 6.1	49.9 ± 5.3	67.1 ± 3.9
BMI (body mass index)	25.2 ± 3.8	27.4 ± 4.7	27.8 ± 4.5	23.4 ± 4.5	27.6 ± 5.4	29.2 ± 5.8
Total cholesterol (mmol/L)	4.9 ± 1.1	5.7 ± 1.1	5.6 ± 1.1	4.8 ± 1.0	5.7 ± 1.2	5.9 ± 1.2
HDL (mmol/L)	1.4 ± 0.4	1.4 ± 0.5	1.3 ± 0.4	1.6 ± 0.4	1.5 ± 0.4	1.5 ± 0.4
Triglycerides (mmol/L)	1.5 ± 1.1	1.9 ± 1.7	1.6 ± 0.9	1.1 ± 0.7	1.4 ± 0.9	1.7 ± 1.4
Fasting glucose (mmol/L)	4.7 ± 0.8	5.3 ± 1.6	5.6 ± 2.0	4.5 ± 0.8	5.0 ± 1.4	5.6 ± 2.0
Homocysteine (µmol/L)	9.7 ± 3.4	11.2 ± 5.2	12.5 ± 5.3	8.1 ± 2.5	9.5 ± 4.1	11.6 ± 4.3
Systolic Blood Pressure (mmHg)	130 ± 12	140 ± 19	148 ± 23	117 ± 12	133 ± 21	150 ± 24
Diastolic Blood Pressure (mmHg)	79 ± 10	87 ± 12	86 ± 12	76 ± 9	84 ± 12	88 ± 12
Smoking (%)	41.8	44.9	25.9	26.3	30.1	5.6
Physical activity (%)
Low level	30.4	32.7	37.4	35.2	37.1	49.6
Middle level	20.0	13.6	9.2	21.7	15.9	6.6
High level	49.6	53.7	53.4	43.1	47.0	43.8
Commune type (%)
<8th inhabitants	37.1	35.4	36.3	38.5	36.9	34.5
8–40th inhabitants	36.6	34.2	37.5	35.3	36.6	33.7
>40th inhabitants	26.3	30.4	26.2	26.2	26.5	31.8
Marital status (%)
Married	52.7	84.0	87.7	68.0	81.3	54.3
Single	47.3	16.0	12.3	32.0	18.7	45.7
Level of education (%)
Under middle	54.0	65.4	73.2	37.3	52.6	69.4
Middle	36.1	25.6	17.9	48.1	37.0	24.2
High	9.9	9.0	8.9	14.6	10.4	6.4
Household per capita income (%)
Low	89.1	90.2	84.1	92.8	92.1	88.8
Middle	7.5	6.0	12.9	4.7	5.5	10.0
High	3.4	3.8	3.0	2.5	2.4	1.2
Energy of the diet (kcal)	2815 ± 1142	2362 ± 927	2011 ± 751	1794 ± 715	1694 ± 698	1505 ± 586