Associations between physical activity patterns and dietary patterns in a representative sample of Polish girls aged 13-21 years: a cross-sectional study (GEBaHealth Project)

Table 4 Factor-loading matrix for the 4 major dietary patterns identified by principal component analysis

		Factor 1	Factor 2	Factor 3	Factor 4
		‘Traditional Polish’	‘Fruit & vegetables’	‘Fast food & sweets’	‘Dairy & fats’
Food frequency consumption of^a:	White bread (including biscuits, muffins)	0.65
	Potatoes	0.52
	Red meats	0.51
	Margarine or butter	0.45			0.45
	Fried chicken	0.42
	Wholegrain bread	−0.48
	Green salad		0.57
	Fruit (without juices)		0.55
	Prepared vegetables		0.55
	Beans		0.45
	French fries or potato chips or corn chips or popcorn			0.71
	Hamburgers or cheeseburgers			0.60
	Ice cream			0.52
	Doughnuts or pastries or cake or cookies			0.50
	Salad dressings or mayonnaise (not diet)			0.42
	Cheese or cheese spread				0.54
	Whole milk				0.49
Food intake variety by food groups^b:	Meats, fish and eggs	0.60
	Fats	0.45			0.43
	Vegetables		0.60
	Fruit		0.54
	Sweets and snacks			0.47
	Cereals and potatoes				0.56
	Dairy products				0.54
Factor intercorrelations	Factor 1 (Traditional Polish)	–
	Factor 2 (Fruit & vegetables)	0.14	–
	Factor 3 (Fast foods & sweets)	0.44	0.13	–
	Factor 4 (Dairy and fats)	0.34	0.41	0.39	–
Eigenvalues		4.36	2.39	1.68	1.44
Variance explained (%)^c		14.5	9.0	5.6	4.8

Factor loadings of ≤ |0.40| are not shown in the table for simplicity. Sorted by loadings from 1^st to 4^th factor. All data adjusted for sample weights
^a Food frequency consumption was expressed in points (range 0–4 points)
^b Food intake variety was expressed in foods consumed per week (with ranges from 0–4 to 0–14 foods/week)
^c Total variance in dietary variables explained by 4 patterns is 33.9 %

ISSN: 1471-2458