Skip to main content

Table 1 Factor loadings of different food items in the eight latent dietary factors identified using factor analysis with Promax rotation

From: The differential effect of maternal dietary patterns on quantiles of Birthweight

Dietary patterns

Food items

Factor loadings coefficient*

Cumulative variance explained (%)

“Snack and energy foods”

Energy bars

0.87486

46.41%

Energy drinks

0.85251

Ice cream

0.76687

Chocolate

0.74735

Drinking yoghurt

0.70387

Milk drinks

0.70378

Milkshake

0.66289

Fruit salad

0.63208

Cheese sauce

0.62704

Cheese

0.56129

Chicken with skin

0.47309

Chips

0.46882

Cold meat

0.46529

Red meat

0.43206

Flame grilled fast food chicken

0.42456

Hot dogs

0.40035

Sausages

0.39612

Fizzy soft drinks

0.38538

Fruit juice

0.35977

Hamburgers

0.31074

Pizza

0.30266

Rusks

0.30247

Cooking oil

−0.33744

“Fast foods and spreads”

Dripping

0.76641

11.12%

Salad dressing low fat

0.76498

Fat Holsum

0.74403

Schnitzels

0.70762

Skimmed

0.6791

Chocolate spread

0.60188

Bunny chow

0.58556

Venison

0.55576

Fizzy diet soft drinks

0.51667

Fish steamed

0.50548

Whole wheat

0.49309

Dried fruit

0.47822

Red meat fat removed

0.47779

Cookies

0.45296

Fried fast food chicken

0.4281

Pasta

0.42541

Organ meat

0.40937

Nuts and peanuts

0.36348

Pizza

0.34863

Pies and sausage rolls

0.34244

Vetkoek

0.33541

Rusks

0.32428

Hot dogs

0.31508

Butter

0.3194

Fizzy soft drinks

−0.31292

“Junk foods”

Butter

0.62300

10.45%

Sweets

0.60625

Muffins

0.59219

Chips

0.56772

Mixed salad

0.56106

Fruit juice

0.5389

Fresh fruit

0.53471

Fizzy soft drinks

0.42281

Vetkoek

0.39649

Coffee creamer

0.38703

Cooking oil

0.38482

Hamburgers

0.36097

Cooked vegetables

0.35781

Cereals Rice Crispies

0.31854

Soft margarine

−0.77394

“Protein rich foods”

Fried fish

0.67237

6.35%

Fish tinned

0.54825

Fried fish in fat

0.52289

Eggs cooked or poached

0.46767

White brown bread

0.43925

Potato chips

0.4079

Chicken with skin

0.40252

Chicken without skin

−0.34525

Red meat fat removed

−0.40646

“Starch foods”

Potato

0.66418

4.56%

Breakfast cereals

0.52251

Potato with fat

0.47055

Legumes

0.45527

Full cream

0.40847

Cooked vegetables

0.36178

Cheese sauce

0.35377

Pasta

0.32992

Jam

0.32221

“Nuts and rice foods”

Peanut butter

0.55276

3.63%

Nuts and peanuts

0.39124

Rice mealie rice

0.34955

“Vegetable rich foods”

Vegetables

0.61485

3.13%

Organ meat

0.40243

Butter

−0.34338

“Alcoholic drinks”

Shooters

0.80795

2.67%

Cocktails

0.79207

  1. *Factor loadings ≥3.0 or ≤ −3.0. Food groups are sorted by size of loading coefficients