OBJECTIVES: The diet of recent Mexican immigrant women is generally believed to be healthful and may contribute to the good birth outcomes seen in this population. However, this diet may deteriorate with increasing U.S. acculturation. This study examined how nutrition during pregnancy changes with country of birth and increasing years in the United States in a population of rural, low-income, first- and second-generation women of Mexican descent. METHODS: Data on usual dietary intake were obtained from more than 500 low-income, pregnant Mexican and Mexican-American women attending prenatal care in the Salinas Valley, California using a 72-item food frequency questionnaire specifically modified for this population. RESULTS: Preliminary analyses of 211 subjects show that first-generation status was associated with significantly higher intakes of fiber, vitamin A, vitamin E, calcium and folate from food sources. The diet of first-generation women contained 35 percent more fiber, 37.8 percent more vitamin A, 20 percent more vitamin E, 18.7 percent more calcium and 28.8 percent more folate on average than the diets of their second-generation counterparts. However, first-generation women were significantly less likely to take prenatal vitamin supplements than second-generation women. Additional analyses will be conducted to determine how nutritional intake during pregnancy changes with time in the United States among first-generation women. CONCLUSIONS: The diets of first-generation Mexican-American women are more likely to meet the nutritional needs during pregnancy than the diets of second-generation women. This finding may help explain the lower rate of low birth weight among first-generation Mexican-American women. See ehs.sph.berkeley.edu/chamacos/
Learning Objectives: After attending this presentation the participant will be able to target prenatal nutritional counselling by recognizing the ways in which Mexican-American women's risk of nutritional inadequacies differs by generation status and time in the United States.
Keywords: Immigrant Women, Nutrition
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.