Table 3

Dietary habits of study participants: Number of servings of foods consumed per day (N = 232).

Food Groups
Frequency N (%)
Males (N = 140) N (%)
Females (N = 92) N (%)
p-value*

§Grains




     0 to 5 servings/day
156 (70.9)
100 (75.8)
56 (63.6)
0.088
     6 to 11 servings/day
60 (27.3)
29 (22.0)
31 (35.2)

     >11 servings/day
4 (1.8)
3 (2.8)
1 (1.1)

§Meats




     0 to 2 servings/day
57 (25.2)
34 (25.0)
23 (25.6)
0.993
     3 to 4 servings/day
114 (50.4)
69 (50.7)
45 (50.0)

     >4 servings/day
55 (24.3)
33 (24.3)
22 (24.4)

§Fruits and Vegetables




     0 servings/day
13 (5.6)
11 (7.9)
2 (2.2)
0.062
     1 to 4 servings/day
178 (77.4)
109 (77.9)
69 (75.0)

     5 to 9 servings/day
38 (16.5)
19 (14.3)
20 (22.8)

     > 9 servings/day
1 (0.4)
N/A
N/A

§Dairy




     0 servings/day
17 (7.4)
10 (7.3)
7 (7.6)
0.382
     1 to 2 servings/day
101 (43.9)
64 (46.4)
37 (40.2)

     3 to 4 servings/day
91 (39.6)
49 (35.5)
42 (45.7)

     >4 servings/day
21 (9.1)
15 (10.9)
6 (6.5)

§Water




     0 to 7 glasses/day
168 (72.7)
103 (74.1)
65 (70.7)
0.565
     >7 glasses/day
63 (27.3)
36 (25.9)
27 (29.4)

Alcohol (N = 157)




     1–2 servings per week
115 (73.3)
64 (69.6)
51 (78.5)
0.453
     3–4 servings per week
26 (16.6)
17 (18.5)
9 (13.9)

     >= 5 servings per week
16 (10.2)
11 (11.9)
5 (7.7)


Data are presented as frequency (N) and percent (%) of total number in each category.

* Chi-square p < 0.05 significant difference between genders.

N/A – not applicable. For fruits and vegetables, the >9 servings/day group was collapsed with 5 to 9 servings/day group due to small cell size.

§ The sample size for these variables does not add to N = 232 secondary to some of the participants not answering all the questions on the nutrition survey.

157 (92 Males, 65 females) participants reported the number of servings of alcohol consumed per week.

Sharma et al. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 2008 5:9   doi:10.1186/1550-2783-5-9