The anthropometric history of Argentina, Brazil and Peru during the 19th and early 20th century

This anthropometric study focuses on the histories of three important Latin American countries - Brazil, Peru, and Argentina - during the 19th century, and tests hypotheses concerning their welfare trends. While non-farm Brazil and Lima, Peru, started at relatively low height levels, Brazil made substantial progress in nutritional levels from the 1860s to the 1880s. In contrast, Lima remained at low levels. Argentinean men were tall to begin with, but heights stagnated until 1910. The only exception were farmers and landowners, who benefited from the export boom.     

The full distribution of adult height in Poland: Cohorts born between 1920 and 1996. The biological cost of the economic transition

Body height often serves as a proxy for economic progress. In this paper, we investigate the evolution of average height and height dispersion in Poland based on full administrative data on body height (n = 36,393,246). Especially for the cohorts between 1920 and 1950, we discuss the caveat of shrinking. In the cohorts born between 1920 and 1996, the average height of men increased by 10.15 cm, while the average height of women rose by 8.18 cm. Height increase was fastest in the years 1940 – 1980. After the economic transition, body height stagnated. Post-transition unemployment had negative effects on body height. Height declined in municipalities where there were State Agricultural Farms. Height dispersion decreased in the first decades under investigation and increased after the economic transition.     

Estimation of secular trends in adult height, and childhood socioeconomic circumstances in three Eastern European populations

The objective of these analyses was to estimate the strength and direction of secular trends in adult height and childhood socioeconomic circumstances in eight towns in three Eastern European countries in the mid-20th century, and to assess the extent to which childhood conditions might explain the height differences. We used cross-sectional data from the baseline survey of the Health, Alcohol and Psychosocial factors in Eastern Europe (HAPIEE) study, conducted in 2002-2005. The study examined 24,012 men and women born between 1933 and 1957, randomly selected from the general populations of Novosibirsk (Russia), Krakow (Poland) and six towns of the Czech Republic. To allow for age-related height loss we estimated maximum attained height. Parental education and household item ownership at age 10 were used as markers of childhood socioeconomic conditions. In all 5-year birth cohorts, Novosibirsk men and women were shortest. There were positive and statistically significant secular trends in childhood conditions and in maximum adult height. Adjustment for childhood conditions explained about one third of the trend in height. There appeared to be a small reduction in height of persons born during the Second World War which was, however, only significant in Novosibirsk. These results suggest that secular trends in height mirror, but are not wholly explained by, trends in socioeconomic circumstances in early life.     

Between the Great War and the Great Depression: preliminary observations on the ‘missing link’ in the history of human stature in Poland

The paper traces the secular trend in stature in Poland in the interwar period. On the basis of individual measuring cards created by military authorities for Krosno and Sarny districts, the author states that the secular trend in stature that started in the mid-1860s continued between the two world wars with the velocity of at least 0.7 cm per decade, i.e. at a similar rate as in the second half of the 19th century. Although regional differences inside the Second Polish Republic were clearly visible, cohorts born during the Great War were able to make up the lost ground in their teens despite the hardships caused by the Great Depression of the 1930s.     

The height gap in 19th-century America: Net-nutritional advantage of the elite increased at the onset of modern economic growth

We present evidence on the 19th-century trend in the height of male US passport applicants. These men represent a much wealthier segment of contemporary society than found in most stature samples previously analyzed. The height trend among the wealthy is much more robust in comparison to the average population that experienced a decline in stature. The resulting increase in the ‘height gap’—by roughly 1 in. between cohorts born around 1820 and 1860—is in congruence with evidence on rising wealth inequality and the notion of dietary change in antebellum America.     

Ladies from Hell,Aberdeen Free Gardeners,and the Russian influenza: An anthropometric analysis of WWI-era Scottish soldiers and civilians

We analyze data on the height of Scottish men, both civilians and members of the military forces serving in World War I measured in the 1910s, in order to provide another window into the biological well-being of late nineteenth-century birth cohorts. The evidence indicates that rural residents still had a distinct height advantage over their urban counterparts and that military men displayed a slower growth profile than did civilians, but mean heights for the two groups of adults were similar. Mean stature for both groups is well above those found by Floud for British troops born in the 1880s and greater than that of Scottish convicts from the 1830s. Men who were in utero between 1889 and 1893 were slightly stunted, “marked for life” by an encounter with the Russian influenza which struck the region repeatedly.     

Genetic structure of red deer population in northeastern Poland in relation to the history of human interventions

We studied the genetic structure of a red deer (Cervus elaphus) population in 8 woodlands of northeastern Poland and 1 in western Belarus and compared it with the documented history of the population in the region. Red deer nearly went extinct in the region in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the mid-19th century, reintroductions began and continued until the mid-1960s. Animals were translocated from various sites in Poland and other European countries. We genotyped 303 individuals using 14 microsatellite loci and sequenced 253 individuals for a fragment of the control region (mitochondrial DNA [mtDNA]). The microsatellite analyses demonstrate that 3 genetically separate subpopulations exist, but 4 according to mtDNA. All haplotypes found in northeastern Poland are closely related to haplotypes from northern and northwestern Europe. The only individuals that could have originated from autochthonous red deer populations, rather than introductions, were found in Napiwoda Forest. The present regional genetic structure of the species is consistent with the known history of red deer translocations. Current patterns of genetic diversity in these populations are determined by the interaction of past human management and contemporary natural migrations. © 2012 The Wildlife Society.     

Historical trends in height, weight, and body mass: Data from U.S. Major League Baseball players, 1869-1983

We employ a unique dataset of Major League Baseball (MLB) players - a select, healthy population - to examine trends in height, weight, and body mass in birth cohorts from 1869 to 1983. Over that 115-year time period, U.S. born MLB players have gained, on average, approximately 3 in. (7.6 cm) in height and 27.0 lb (12.2 kg) in weight, which has contributed a 1.6-unit increase in the body mass index. Where comparable data are available, U.S. born MLB players are about 2.0 in. (5.1 cm) taller and 20.0 lb (9.1 kg) heavier but substantially less obese than males in the general U.S. population. But both groups exhibit similar height and weight trends; the majority of height and weight gains take place in cohorts that were born prior to World War II, followed by slower gains and occasional declines in height and weight for cohorts born in 1939 and later.