Table 4

Association between serum folate concentrations and consumption of tobacco, coffee, and alcohol in the study sample of Cretan adults.


Age- & gender-adjusted 1
Multivariate-adjusted 2


Geometric mean (95% CI)

Tobacco consumption


     Non/ex-smokers (n = 314)
18.0 (16.9–19.1)
17.4 (16.3–18.6)
     Current smokers (n = 165)
16.0 (14.7–17.4)3
16.2 (14.9–17.7)
          <10 cigs/day (n = 52)
17.7 (15.3–20.5)
16.5 (14.1–19.4)
          10–19 cigs/day (n = 36)
15.0 (12.6–17.9)
14.7 (12.2–17.8)
          ≥20 cigs/day (n = 76)
14.6 (12.9–16.5)4
14.9 (12.9–17.2)



Coffee consumption


     None (n = 102)
18.2 (16.4–20.2)
17.9 (16.2–19.8)
     ≤200 g/day (n = 195)
16.9 (15.7–18.2)
17.2 (16.0–18.5)
     >200 g/day (n = 86)
15.5 (13.8–17.3)5
15.6 (14.0–17.4)



Alcohol consumption


     None (n = 293)
17.0 (16.0–18.1)
17.0 (16.0–18.0)
     ≤180 g/day (n = 43)
16.0 (13.6–18.9)
16.1 (13.8–18.9)
     >180 g/day (n = 47)
16.8 (14.4–19.7)
18.2 (15.6–21.2)

1 ANCOVA, controlling for age and gender.

2 ANCOVA, controlling for age, gender, district of residence, total energy intake, intakes of MUFA, fibre, calcium, magnesium, folate, vitamins A, E, C, B1, B6 (all log transformed).

4 Non/ex-smokers had significantly higher serum folate concentrations than current smokers (p = 0.029).

5 p = 0.047, linear trend by level of tobacco consumption.

6 p = 0.035, linear trend by level of coffee consumption.

Hatzis et al. Nutrition Journal 2006 5:5   doi:10.1186/1475-2891-5-5