Table 1 Characteristics of 39,771 participants according to gender (NutriNet-Santé study, 2014)

Age (years)²

49.9 ± 13.7

48.5 ± 13.5

54.1 ± 13.6

Education level (%)

 Primary

2.8

2.7

3.3

 Secondary

32.8

32.4

34.3

 Some college

30.9

33.2

24.0

 University

33.2

31.5

38.2

 Missing data

0.2

0.2

0.2

Occupational status (%)

 Unemployed

10.0

11.9

4.5

 Student

3.5

4.1

1.5

 Self-employed, farmer

1.7

1.6

2.0

 Employee, manual worker

16.0

18.5

8.5

 Intermediate professions

16.5

18.1

11.7

 Managerial staff, intellectual profession

22.1

20.6

26.7

 Retired

30.1

25.1

45.1

Monthly household income (%)³

  < 1200€

13.3

14.6

9.3

 1200-1799€

23.1

23.7

21.4

 1800-2299€

15.3

15.4

14.7

 2300-2699€

9.5

8.7

11.8

 2700-3699€

16.5

15.3

20.0

  ≥ 3700€

11.1

9.6

15.6

 Unwilling to answer

10.3

11.4

6.8

 Missing data

1.0

1.2

0.4

Smoking status (%)

 Never smokers

48.7

51.6

40.0

 Smokers

51.3

48.4

60.0

Physical activity (%)

 Low

21.6

22.3

19.4

 Moderate

40.5

42.1

35.6

 High

34.4

31.9

42.0

 Missing data

3.5

3.7

3.0

History of dieting (%)

 Never dieters

60.8

57.7

70.3

 Dieters

39.2

42.3

29.7

Baseline BMI (kg/m²)²

24.0 ± 4.5

23.6 ± 4.6

25.1 ± 3.8

BMI change/year (kg.m⁻².y⁻¹)^2,4

0.04 ± 0.48

0.05 ± 0.51

0.02 ± 0.36

Period of follow-up (years)^4,5

5.27 (4.00–6.93)

5.19 (3.97–6.91)

5.96 (4.00–6.94)

Baseline Weight status (%)

 Underweight (<  18.5 kg/m²)

4.7

5.9

1.1

 Normal (≥ 18.5 and < 25 kg/m²)

63.4

66.4

54.1

 Overweight (≥ 25 and < 30 kg/m²)

22.9

18.6

35.5

 Obese (≥ 30 kg/m²)

8.9

8.8

9.3

 Missing data

0.1

0.1

0.0

CFC (CFC-12) (range: 12–60)²

40.4 ± 7.0

40.2 ± 7.0

40.8 ± 6.9

Impulsivity (BIS-11) (range: 30–120)²

58.6 ± 8.0

58.9 ± 7.9

57.4 ± 8.0

Emotional eating score (range: 1–4)⁵

2.00 (1.33–2.83)

2.17 (1.67–2.83)

1.67 (1.00–2.17)