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Height, weight and body mass index values of mid-19th century New York legislative officers

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  • Bodenhorn, Howard

Abstract

Previous studies of mid-19th century American heights and body mass index values have used potentially unrepresentative groups--students in military academies, prisoners, and African Americans. This paper uses an alternative source with heights and weights of ordinary people employed in a wide variety of occupations. The results reveal the operation of the antebellum paradox in that average heights declined between men born circa 1820 and those born circa 1840. Average weights also declined for adult males, suggesting a decline in mid-19th century nutritional status.

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  • Bodenhorn, Howard, 2010. "Height, weight and body mass index values of mid-19th century New York legislative officers," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 291-293, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:8:y:2010:i:2:p:291-293
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Carson, Scott Alan, 2009. "Racial differences in body mass indices of men imprisoned in 19th Century Texas," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 121-127, March.
    2. Komlos, John, 1987. "The Height and Weight of West Point Cadets: Dietary Change in Antebellum America," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(4), pages 897-927, December.
    3. repec:ucp:bknber:9780226301129 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. John Komlos & Peter Coclanis, "undated". "Nutrition and Economic Development in Post-Reconstruction South Carolina: an Anthropometric Approach," Articles by John Komlos 15, Department of Economics, University of Munich.
    5. John Komlos, 1992. "Toward an Anthropometric History of African-Americans: The Case of the Free Blacks in Antebellum Maryland," NBER Chapters, in: Strategic Factors in Nineteenth Century American Economic History: A Volume to Honor Robert W. Fogel, pages 297-329, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Richard H. Steckel, 1992. "Stature and Living Standards in the United States," NBER Chapters, in: American Economic Growth and Standards of Living before the Civil War, pages 265-310, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Bodenhorn, Howard, 1999. "A Troublesome Caste: Height and Nutrition of Antebellum Virginia's Rural Free Blacks," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 59(4), pages 972-996, December.
    8. Carson, Scott Alan, 2007. "Mexican body mass index values in the late-19th-century American West," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 37-47, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. O’Neill, Donal, 2015. "Measuring obesity in the absence of a gold standard," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 116-128.
    2. Scott A. Carson, 2012. "Obesity in Black and White: Accounting for 19th Century US BMI Differences by Socioeconomic Status and Biology," CESifo Working Paper Series 3913, CESifo.
    3. Komlos, John & Brabec, Marek, 2011. "The trend of BMI values of US adults by deciles, birth cohorts 1882-1986 stratified by gender and ethnicity," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 234-250, July.
    4. Scott Alan Carson, 2022. "Body mass, nutrition, and disease: nineteenth century current net nutrition during economic development," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 37-65, April.
    5. Scott A. Carson, 2012. "Nineteenth Century US BMIs by Race: Socioeconomics and Biology," CESifo Working Paper Series 3971, CESifo.

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