Black and white adolescent females' pre-pregnancy nutrition status

The dietary intakes of energy, protein, calcium, and iron of 408 randomly selected nonpregnant, black and white female adolescents were analyzed to determine their pre-pregnancy nutritional status. Pre-pregnancy weight for height was calculated and used as an indicator of nutritional status. After controlling for race, socioeconomic status, and age, results indicated that black females had significantly higher mean intakes of energy (p = .0001), protein (p < .0001), calcium (p = .0205), and iron (p = .0001) than did white females. Distribution of white and black females in the percentages of RDA categories differed significantly for energy (p < .0001), protein (p < .0001), and iron (p < .0001). A higher percentage of white females were found in the three lower categories (< 100% of RDA) than of black females. No significant differences were found in the distribution of black and white females in the three Body Mass Index categories. A large proportion of both black and white females' intakes of energy, calcium, and iron were below the recommended allowances when categorized according to the percentages of recommended intakes. Thirty-seven percent of the black females and 42.6% of the white females were classified by their BMIs as being underweight. These findings suggest that the majority of black and white females surveyed had poor pre-pregnancy nutritional status.