The objective of this field study was to discover whether there were different pre-pregnancy food choices and eating behavior between women who delivered a low-birth-weight baby (LBW) and those who delivered a normal-birth-weight baby (NBW). The data collected included surveys of food type and eating behavior, as well as infant birth weight. There was no statistically significant difference between the two populations in the average pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI). However, more LBW women than NBW women had BMI<19.5. Food type data show that women from both groups had low calorie, protein, calcium, and iron intake. An attribution analysis shows that the LBW subjects regularly ate daily dishes from convenience stores and supermarkets, did not mind eating out all the time, ate junk food often, and has dieted to lose weight. The results of this study can be used for the education of young Japanese women to develop a healthy lifestyle and eating behavior for delivering normalbirth-weight babies.
