Estimated association between food groups consumption¹ and annual change in “waist circumference for a given body mass index (ΔWC_BMI, cm/y)”.

1The effect of foods was studied per 100 kcal increments in intake, except for coffee and tea that were studied per 100 g increments due to their very low energy content. 2The association between food consumption and ΔWCBMI was modelled using centre-specific linear regression [adjusting for: total energy intake, age, baseline weight, baseline height, baseline WCBMI, smoking, alcohol intake (except in the models including alcoholic beverages), physical activity, education, follow-up duration, menopausal status (women only), and hormone replacement therapy use (women only)], and random-effect meta-analyses to evaluate heterogeneity (I2) across study centres and to obtain pooled estimates of the associations. *indicates that there is heterogeneity across study centres (P for heterogeneity <0.05). 3After excluding Italy where this food group was not assessed in their FFQ. 4Effect modification by gender was considered relevant when the p for interaction between the exposure of interest and gender was <0.01 in ≥3 out of the 6 study centres. Only Beer consumption met this criterion.