Table 1.

Birth Weight and Trajectories of Body Mass Index of Underweight, Normal-Weight, and Overweight Japanese University Females Majoring in Nutrition Sciences

	Underweight	Normal weight	Overweight	#
	n = 42	n = 251	n = 14
Birth weight <2500 g (n, %)	2/32, 6.3	3/182, 1.6	0/12, 0
Weight (kg) at birth	2991 ± 369	3196 ± 388	3146 ± 306	a
At age 12	37.5 ± 4.9	43.5 ± 6.4	56.2 ± 8.9	a,b,c
At age 15	43.6 ± 4.7	49.5 ± 5.7	62.7 ± 9.9	a,b,c
At age 20	44.4 ± 5.0	51.9 ± 4.9	67.6 ± 6.8	a,b,c
Height (cm) at age 12	148.1 ± 6.3	151.0 ± 6.3	154.9 ± 7.5	c
At age 15	155.9 ± 4.8	157.1 ± 5.0	159.1 ± 5.9
At age 20	159.1 ± 5.1	158.9 ± 5.0	159.4 ± 5.6
BMI (kg/m2) at age 12	17.1 ± 1.3	19.0 ± 2.1	23.3 ± 2.2	a,b,c
At age 15	18.0 ± 1.7	20.0 ± 1.8	24.7 ± 2.8	a,b,c
At age 20	17.5 ± 1.4	20.6 ± 1.4	26.6 ± 1.6	a,b,c

Mean ± standard deviation.

#: Significantly different at p < 0.05 or less. a and b: underweight versus normal weight and overweight, respectively, c: normal weight versus overweight.

BMI, body mass index.