Baseline participants’ characteristics in each study.^*

*<p>Data were shown as mean (SD) for continuous variables, and numbers (percentage) for categorical variables. EPIC-NL denotes Dutch contribution of the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition, PREVEND denotes Prevention of Renal and Vascular End-stage Disease, HbA1c glycated hemoglobin, GGT gamma-glutamyltransferase, ALT alanine aminotransferase and AST aspartate aminotransferase.</p>†<p>Hypertension was ascertained on the basis of self-reported diagnosis by a physician, antihypertensive medication use, systolic blood pressure ≥140 mm Hg, or diastolic blood pressure ≥90 diastolic blood pressure, or a combination of these.</p>‡<p>Body mass index is the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters.</p>§<p>To convert values for glucose to milligrams per deciliter, divide by 0.0555. To convert values for uric acid to milligrams per deciliter, divide by 59.48.