# Milk: A Nutritive and Healthy Food? Consumer Perspective from French and Portuguese Participants
## 3 Results  
### Sociodemographic Characterization of the Sample  
Table 1 presents the sociodemographic characteristics of the participants in the survey, considering the global sample and also separately for each of the countries. The results revealed that the majority of the participants were young adults (49.8%), with this class less represented in the Portuguese samples than in the French samples (percentages of 39.0% and 56.6%, respectively). In what concerns the distribution among sexes, the female participants were in higher numbers in all cases, representing 65.7% of the global sample, but evidencing differences between countries, with a much higher percentage of women in the Portuguese sample than in the French sample (81.0% and 56.0%, respectively). It is a common trend to find higher participation of women than men in questionnaire surveys, regardless of the topic, due to their higher disposition and will to participate. This is a characteristic of using convenience samples. They facilitate recruitment and data collection while not guaranteeing equal group representativeness [48]. Nevertheless, they allow obtaining good results in exploratory-type studies [49]. The majority of the participants were employed (51.5% of the global sample, and 62.9% and 44.3% in the cases of the Portuguese and French samples, respectively). In terms of education level, most participants had a university level of education (67.2%), the percentage of which was higher in the case of the French participants (78.0%) as compared to the Portuguese participants (50.0%). Finally, in terms of the household, most were composed of four or more persons, representing 33.0% of the global number of participants, but with some tendency for larger households in Portugal than in France, i.e., higher percentages of households with 3 or 4+ persons in Portugal (29.5% and 41.0%) as compared with France (18.1% and 28.0%). The sociodemographic characteristics of the sample are pivotal to being able to link the findings collected regarding knowledge about milk and its effects on human nutrition and health back to the different types of consumers, not only from different countries but also belonging to divers sociodemographic categories of sex, age, education, or household. Table 2 presents the results for the anthropometric characteristics of weight, height, and body mass index (BMI). From Table 2, it is possible to conclude that weight varied from 41.0 to 145.0 kg with a mean value of 68.4 \(\pm\) 15.5 kg considering the global sample, but with some differences between countries, with an average weight higher for the Portuguese participants (67.2 \(\pm\) 13.4 kg). The height varied between 1.5 and 2.0 m, being \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Variables** & **Classes** &
\begin{tabular}{c} **France** \\ **[N = 332]** \\ **n (\%)** 1 ** & **[N = 210]** \\ **n (\%)** 1 ** & **[Global** \\ **n (\%)** 1 ** \\ \end{tabular} & **[N = 542]** \\ \hline Age & Young adults (18–25 y) & 188 (56.6) & 82 (39.0) & 270 (49.8) \\  & Adults (26–50 y) & 92 (27.7) & 100 (47.6) & 192 (35.4) \\  & Senior adults (51 y or over) & 52 (15.7) & 28 (13.3) & 80 (14.8) \\ \hline Sex & Female & 186 (56.0) & 170 (81.0) & 356 (65.7) \\  & Male & 137 (41.3) & 40 (19.0) & 177 (32.7) \\  & Other & 9 (2.7) & 0 (0.0) & 9 (1.7) \\ \hline Occupation & Student or working student & 157 (47.3) & 53 (25.2) & 210 (38.7) \\  & Employed & 147 (44.3) & 132 (62.9) & 279 (51.5) \\  & Other (retired, unemployed) & 28 (8.4) & 26 (11.9) & 53 (9.8) \\ \hline Education & Up to secondary school & 73 (22.0) & 105 (50.0) & 178 (32.8) \\  & University level & 259 (78.0) & 105 (50.0) & 364 (67.2) \\ \hline Household & Alone & 99 (29.8) & 14 (6.7) & 113 (20.8) \\  & 2 persons & 80 (24.1) & 48 (22.9) & 128 (23.6) \\  & 3 persons & 60 (18.1) & 62 (29.5) & 122 (22.5) \\  & 4 or more persons & 93 (28.0) & 86 (41.0) & 179 (33.0) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Sociodemographic characteristics of the participants.