The purpose of this study was to assess nutrition
knowledge during early and late postpartum in a sam-
ple of low-income and minority women, and to deter-
mine if that knowledge had any relationship to weight
retention at 1-year postpartum. A questionnaire was
developed and validated in a sample of 151 low-income
new mothers. This instrument was then administered
to a separate sample of mothers (n140) of similar
demographics to assess nutrition knowledge at 0 to 1
days and 12 months postpartum. In addition, a survey
of nutrition information sources was administered at
both time points. Nutrition knowledge was compared
with 12-month postpartum weight retention and demographic
variables. Women who retained less than 5% of
weight gained during pregnancy had greater knowledge
of nutrition at 0 months (53% vs 49%, P0.05) and
12 months (55% vs 51%, P0.05) than those who retained
5% or more of weight gained during pregnancy.
Whites had higher nutrition knowledge scores than
non-Hispanic blacks and Hispanics. Women who lactated
6 months or more had more knowledge than those
who lactated less than 6 months.