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Biological Living Standards and Nutritional Health Inequality in Transition to the Developed World

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Children's Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2021) | Viewed by 49757

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. José Miguel Martínez-Carrión

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Applied Economics, Faculty of Economics and Business, Murcia University, 30100 Murcia, Spain
Interests: anthropometric history; impact of socioeconomic processes and environmental changes on human height and well-being; nutritional health inequality; biological living standards; epidemiological transition and nutritional transition
Dr. Carlos Varea

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Madrid Autonomous University, 28049 Madrid, Spain
Interests: human ecology; life history theory and life cycle; bio-social interaction; plasticity
Prof. Dr. Ricardo Salvatore

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Departamento de Estudios Históricos y Sociales, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, C1428BCW Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Interests: nutritional health; anthropometric history; economic, social and cultural history; crime and justice history

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The secular trends associated with human height and other anthropometric variables (body mass index, among others) in relation to indicators of nutritional health and population well-being is analyzed by various disciplines. Human height reflects both past biological living standards and inequality. We have a good knowledge of the evolution of human stature in high-income countries over the last centuries, but more research is required on its determinants in relation to different environments and socioeconomic groups. Secular trends in height and other anthropometric variables, as well as variability in low- and medium-income countries, are of special interest for public health and child nutrition policies. Anthropometric studies from Asia, Africa, Latin America, Eastern and Southern Europe, and the Middle East are welcome.

This Special Issue aims to publish manuscripts on the dynamics of biological living standards and nutritional health in human populations in social and economic transition. The historical experience of the industrialized and urbanized western world can be useful for the poorest populations today. We welcome the submission of manuscripts that explore the short- and long-term effects of the environment on biological well-being, using the main anthropometric indicators by generational cohorts. The goal is to cover aspects of height and body mass evolution at different stages of the life cycle, mainly on the basis of data from children and adolescents from both the remote and recent past. Analyses of the social height gap and rural–urban and intra-urban differences in biological well-being are of special interest. Studies that analyze the impact of nutritional crises and of the prevalence of malnutrition on the evolution of stature and other anthropometric or physiological variables are welcome. Likewise, comparative studies of countries, regions, social classes, and different socioeconomic circumstances are of interest. We encourage research papers in disciplines such as anthropology, public health, history, economics, and sociology.

Prof. Dr. José Miguel Martínez-Carrión
Dr. Carlos Varea
Prof. Dr. Ricardo Salvatore
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • nutritional health
  • inequality
  • anthropometric indicators
  • human height
  • body mass index
  • biological well-being
  • living standards
  • child growth
  • determinants of height
  • low birth weight
  • sexual dimorphism
  • obesity
  • nutritional transition

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Published Papers (16 papers)

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18 pages, 3020 KiB  
Article
Height, Nutritional and Economic Inequality in Central Spain, 1837–1936
by Hector Garcia-Montero
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(6), 3397; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19063397 - 14 Mar 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2079
Abstract
This article analyzes the evolution of inequality in mean male height in central Spain considering the generations born from 1837 to 1915, measured in the drafts from 1858 to 1936 (n = 53,503). Mean adult height reflects a crude indicator of net [...] Read more.
This article analyzes the evolution of inequality in mean male height in central Spain considering the generations born from 1837 to 1915, measured in the drafts from 1858 to 1936 (n = 53,503). Mean adult height reflects a crude indicator of net nutritional status, a proxy for currently known measures of stunting and wasting. The results reveal a cycle of stagnation and decline in average height at the age of 21 for those born from the 1850s to the 1870s and a subsequent positive secular trend to exceed baseline levels. The coefficient of variation shows how inequality in height followed an opposite pattern, with an increase in the mid-nineteenth century and a subsequent decline, with an overall decline. The great migratory wave towards Latin America (1880–1930) barely affected the area studied here. The available evidence on the occupations and educational level of the recruits reveals a ranking in average height related to family background and personal income, educational level and literacy, propinquity to food and ownership and/or management of land. Therefore, socioeconomic status largely predicted adult height in Spanish men during the period. Reducing absolute poverty and increasing access to education remain cornerstones to reducing malnutrition, even in the current world. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biological Living Standards and Nutritional Health Inequality in Transition to the Developed World)
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11 pages, 1304 KiB  
Article
Birth Size and Maternal, Social, and Environmental Factors in the Province of Jujuy, Argentina
by Jorge Ivan Martinez, Marcelo Isidro Figueroa, José Miguel Martínez-Carrión, Emma Laura Alfaro-Gomez and José Edgardo Dipierri
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(2), 621; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19020621 - 6 Jan 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2162
Abstract
Introduction: birth size is affected by diverse maternal, environmental, social, and economic factors. Aim: analyze the relationships between birth size—shown by the indicators small for gestational age (SGA) and large for gestational age (LGA)—and maternal, social, and environmental factors in the Argentine province [...] Read more.
Introduction: birth size is affected by diverse maternal, environmental, social, and economic factors. Aim: analyze the relationships between birth size—shown by the indicators small for gestational age (SGA) and large for gestational age (LGA)—and maternal, social, and environmental factors in the Argentine province of Jujuy, located in the Andean foothills. Methods: data was obtained from 49,185 mother-newborn pairs recorded in the Jujuy Perinatal Information System (SIP) between 2009 and 2014, including the following: newborn and maternal weight, length/height, and body mass index (BMI); gestational age and maternal age; mother’s educational level, nutritional status, marital status and birth interval; planned pregnancy; geographic-linguistic origin of surnames; altitudinal place of birth; and unsatisfied basic needs (UBN). The dataset was split into two groups, SGA and LGA, and compared with adequate for gestational age (AGA). Bivariate analysis (ANOVA) and general lineal modeling (GLM) with multinomial distribution were employed. Results: for SGA newborns, risk factors were altitude (1.43 [1.12–1.82]), preterm birth (5.33 [4.17–6.82]), older maternal age (1.59 [1.24–2.05]), and primiparous mothers (1.88 [1.06–3.34]). For LGA newborns, the risk factors were female sex (2.72 [5.51–2.95]), overweight (1.33 [1.22–2.46]) and obesity (1.85 [1.66–2.07]). Conclusions: the distribution of birth size and the factors related to its variability in Jujuy are found to be strongly conditioned by provincial terrain and the clinal variation due to its Andean location. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biological Living Standards and Nutritional Health Inequality in Transition to the Developed World)
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29 pages, 2763 KiB  
Article
Sibship Size, Height and Cohort Selection: A Methodological Approach
by Ramon Ramon-Muñoz, Josep-Maria Ramon-Muñoz and Begoña Candela-Martínez
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(24), 13369; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182413369 - 19 Dec 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3054
Abstract
This article deals with the historical relationship between the number of siblings in a family or household and height, a proxy for biological living standards. Ideally, this relationship is better assessed when we have evidence on the exact number of siblings in a [...] Read more.
This article deals with the historical relationship between the number of siblings in a family or household and height, a proxy for biological living standards. Ideally, this relationship is better assessed when we have evidence on the exact number of siblings in a family from its constitution onwards. However, this generally requires applying family reconstitution techniques, which, unfortunately, is not always possible. In this latter case, scholars must generally settle for considering only particular benchmark years using population censuses, from which family and household structures are derived. These data are then linked to the height data for the young males of the family or household. Height data are generally obtained from military records. In this matching process, several decisions have to be taken, which, in turn, are determined by source availability and the number of available observations. Using data from late 19th-century Catalonia, we explore whether the methodology used in matching population censuses and military records as described above might affect the relationship between sibship size and biological living standards and, if so, to what extent. We conclude that, while contextual factors cannot be neglected, the methodological decisions made in the initial steps of research also play a role in assessing this relationship. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biological Living Standards and Nutritional Health Inequality in Transition to the Developed World)
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14 pages, 1360 KiB  
Article
Developmental Origins of Cardiovascular Disease: Understanding High Mortality Rates in the American South
by Garrett T. Senney and Richard H. Steckel
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(24), 13192; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182413192 - 14 Dec 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3050
Abstract
While many social scientists view heart disease as the outcome of current conditions, this cannot fully explain the significant geographic disparities in cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality rates in the USA. The developmental origins hypothesis proposes that CVD vulnerability is created by poor conditions [...] Read more.
While many social scientists view heart disease as the outcome of current conditions, this cannot fully explain the significant geographic disparities in cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality rates in the USA. The developmental origins hypothesis proposes that CVD vulnerability is created by poor conditions in utero that underbuilds major organs relative to those needed to process lush nutrition later in life. The American South underwent an economic transformation from persistent poverty to rapid economic growth in the post-World War II era. We use state-level data on income growth and current conditions to explain variation in CVD mortality rates in 2010–2011. Our proxy for unbalanced physical growth, the ratio of median household income in 1980 to that in 1950, has a large systematic influence on CVD mortality, an impact that increases dramatically with age. The income ratio combined with smoking, obesity, healthcare access, and education explain more than 70% of the variance in CVD mortality rates. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biological Living Standards and Nutritional Health Inequality in Transition to the Developed World)
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17 pages, 1934 KiB  
Article
Malnutrition Rates in Chile from the Nitrate Era to the 1990s
by Manuel Llorca-Jaña, Diego Barría Traverso, Diego del Barrio Vásquez and Javier Rivas
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(24), 13112; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182413112 - 12 Dec 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2517
Abstract
Following Salvatore and the WHO, in this article, we provide the first long-term estimates of malnutrition rates for Chile per birth cohort, measured through stunting rates of adult males born from the 1870s to the 1990s. We used a large sample of military [...] Read more.
Following Salvatore and the WHO, in this article, we provide the first long-term estimates of malnutrition rates for Chile per birth cohort, measured through stunting rates of adult males born from the 1870s to the 1990s. We used a large sample of military records, representative of the whole Chilean population, totalling over 38 thousand individuals. Our data suggest that stunting rates were very high for those born between the last three decades of the nineteenth century and the first two decades of the twentieth century. In addition, stunting rates increased from the 1870s to the 1900s. Thereafter, there was a clear downward trend in stunting rates (despite some fluctuations), reaching low levels of malnutrition, in particular, from the 1960s (although these are high if compared to developed countries). The continuous decrease in stunting rates from the 1910s was mainly due to a combination of factors, the importance of which varied over time, namely: Improved health (i.e., sharp decline in infant mortality rates during the whole period); increased energy consumption (from the 1930s onwards, but most importantly during the 1990s); a decline in poverty rates (in particular, between the 1930s and the 1970s); and a reduction in child labour (although we are less able to quantify this). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biological Living Standards and Nutritional Health Inequality in Transition to the Developed World)
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16 pages, 2685 KiB  
Article
Biological Well-Being during the “Economic Miracle” in Spain: Height, Weight and Body Mass Index of Conscripts in the City of Madrid, 1955–1974
by Elena Sánchez-García, José-Miguel Martinez-Carrión, Jose Manuel Terán and Carlos Varea
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(24), 12885; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182412885 - 7 Dec 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2716
Abstract
Typifying historical populations using anthropometric indicators such as height, BMI and weight allows for an analysis of the prevalence of obesity and malnutrition. This study evaluates secular changes in height, weight and body mass for men cohorts at 21 years old, born between [...] Read more.
Typifying historical populations using anthropometric indicators such as height, BMI and weight allows for an analysis of the prevalence of obesity and malnutrition. This study evaluates secular changes in height, weight and body mass for men cohorts at 21 years old, born between 1934 and 1954 who were called up between 1955 and 1974, in the city of Madrid, Spain. In this study we prove the hypothesis that anthropometric variables increase thanks to improvement in diet and significant investments in hygiene and health infrastructure during the 1960s. The results of our analysis show a positive secular change in the trends for height (an increase of 4.67 cm), weight (6.400 kg) and BMI (0.90 Kg/m2), the result of a recovery in standards of living following the war and the autarchy of the 1940s. We also observed a slight trend towards obesity and a reduction in underweight categories at the end of the period is also observed. In conclusion, the secular trends of anthropometric variables in the city of Madrid reflect the recovery of living standards after the deterioration of the nutritional status suffered during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and the deprivation of the autarchic period. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biological Living Standards and Nutritional Health Inequality in Transition to the Developed World)
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21 pages, 5433 KiB  
Article
Biological Well-Being and Inequality in Canary Islands: Lanzarote (Cohorts 1886–1982)
by Begoña Candela-Martínez, José M. Martínez-Carrión and Cándido Román-Cervantes
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(23), 12843; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182312843 - 6 Dec 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2679
Abstract
Developments in anthropometric history in the Iberian Peninsula have been remarkable in recent decades. In contrast, we barely know about the behavior of insular population groups and infants’ and adults’ growth during the nutritional transition in the Canary Islands. This paper analyzes the [...] Read more.
Developments in anthropometric history in the Iberian Peninsula have been remarkable in recent decades. In contrast, we barely know about the behavior of insular population groups and infants’ and adults’ growth during the nutritional transition in the Canary Islands. This paper analyzes the height, weight and body mass index of military recruits (conscripts) in a rural municipality from the eastern Canaries during the economic modernization process throughout the 20th century. The case study (municipality of San Bartolomé (SB) in Lanzarote, the island closest to the African continent) uses anthropometric data of military recruits from 1907–2001 (cohorts from 1886 to 1982). The final sample is composed of 1921 recruits’ records that were measured and weighed at the ages of 19–21 years old when adolescent growth had finished. The long-term anthropometric study is carried out using two approaches: a malnutrition and growth retardation approach and an inequality perspective. In the first one, we use the methodology recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) that is based on z-scores. In the second one, we implement several inequality dimensions such as the coefficient of variation (CV), percentiles and an analysis for height and BMI evolution by five socioeconomic categories. The data suggest that improvements in biological well-being were due to advances in nutrition since the 1960s. They show that infant nutrition is sensitively associated with economic growth and demographic and epidemiological changes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biological Living Standards and Nutritional Health Inequality in Transition to the Developed World)
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21 pages, 1474 KiB  
Article
The Nutritional Condition of the Spanish Soldier: “Spain. Nutrition Survey of the Armed Forces, a Report by the Interdepartmental Committee on Nutrition for National Defence 1958”
by Pedro Fatjó Gómez, Francisco Muñoz Pradas and Roser Nicolau Nos
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(23), 12623; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182312623 - 30 Nov 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2053
Abstract
The study of the nutritional transition in Spain must combine sources concerning the health conditions and the nutritional profile of the population. Such an approximation to the issue is, as a rule, not possible until the two final decades of the 20th century. [...] Read more.
The study of the nutritional transition in Spain must combine sources concerning the health conditions and the nutritional profile of the population. Such an approximation to the issue is, as a rule, not possible until the two final decades of the 20th century. However, the report on the nutritional status of the Spanish army, undertaken by the American Interdepartmental Committee on Nutrition for National Defence (ICNND) in 1958, combines both approaches. The report is based on the medical examination of 10727 army drafts. First, the article contextualised the report’s sample geographically and demographically; second, it validated the variables used statistically; and third, it explored the relationship between the diseases diagnosed, the biomarkers yielded by blood and urine tests, and the diet. The main results were as follows: (a) the report confirmed that the military population under examination did not suffer from severe dietary shortcomings; (b) the sample presents a double bias, geographical (overrepresentation of southern provinces) and institutional (underrepresentation of the land forces). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biological Living Standards and Nutritional Health Inequality in Transition to the Developed World)
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15 pages, 1908 KiB  
Article
Children’s Diet during the Early Stages of the Nutritional Transition. The Foundlings in the Hospital of Valencia (Spain), 1852–1931
by Francisco J. Medina-Albaladejo and Salvador Calatayud
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(22), 11999; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182211999 - 15 Nov 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2374
Abstract
The nutritional transition brought about profound changes in the nutrition of the European population in the 19th and 20th centuries. The predominant consumption of cereals gave way to kilocalorie-, protein-, vitamin- and mineral-rich diets that involved a greater intake of animal products. However, [...] Read more.
The nutritional transition brought about profound changes in the nutrition of the European population in the 19th and 20th centuries. The predominant consumption of cereals gave way to kilocalorie-, protein-, vitamin- and mineral-rich diets that involved a greater intake of animal products. However, not all population groups underwent this transition at the same pace; socio-economic conditions, sex and age led to important inequalities. This article uses institutional sources to analyse the nutrition of children during the early stages of the nutritional transition and to compare it with that of other age groups (adult psychiatric patients). The study examines the average diets and nutritional balance of foundlings in the Hospital General de Valencia from 1852 to 1931. The main conclusion of the study is that, throughout the period under study, foundlings were exposed to a poor, traditional diet, characterized by structural deficits and imbalances. This may have affected their physical growth, health and biological wellbeing in adulthood, and demonstrates that the nutritional transition was anything but a homogeneous process. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biological Living Standards and Nutritional Health Inequality in Transition to the Developed World)
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20 pages, 1177 KiB  
Article
The Escape from Malnutrition of Chilean Boys and Girls: Height-for-Age Z Scores in Late XIX and XX Centuries
by Javier Núñez and Graciela Pérez
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(19), 10436; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph181910436 - 4 Oct 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 5314
Abstract
We studied the trends of height-for-age (HAZ) Z scores by socioeconomic status (SES) groups of Chilean boys and girls aged 5–18 born between 1877 and 2001, by performing a meta-analysis of 53 studies reporting height-for-age sample data from which 1258 HAZ score datapoints [...] Read more.
We studied the trends of height-for-age (HAZ) Z scores by socioeconomic status (SES) groups of Chilean boys and girls aged 5–18 born between 1877 and 2001, by performing a meta-analysis of 53 studies reporting height-for-age sample data from which 1258 HAZ score datapoints were calculated using the 2000 reference growth charts for the US of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). We found stagnant mean and median HAZ scores of about −1.55 to −1.75 for the general population, and −2.2 to −2.55 for lower SES groups up to cohorts born in the 1940s. However, we found an upwards structural change in cohorts born after the 1940s, a period in which HAZ scores grew at a pace of about 0.25 to 0.30 HAZ per decade. Since this change happened in a context of moderate Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, high and persistent income inequality, and stagnant wages of the working class, we discuss the extent to which our findings are associated with the increase in public social spending and the implementation and expansion of a variety of social policies since the 1940s and early 1950s. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biological Living Standards and Nutritional Health Inequality in Transition to the Developed World)
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28 pages, 2081 KiB  
Article
Rethinking the Fertility Transition in Rural Aragón (Spain) Using Height Data
by Francisco J. Marco-Gracia and Margarita López-Antón
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(16), 8338; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18168338 - 6 Aug 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2408
Abstract
Based on an analysis of the life trajectories of 2510 conscripts and their families from a Spanish rural area in the period 1835–1977, this paper studies the development of the fertility transition in relation to height using bivariate analyses. The use of heights [...] Read more.
Based on an analysis of the life trajectories of 2510 conscripts and their families from a Spanish rural area in the period 1835–1977, this paper studies the development of the fertility transition in relation to height using bivariate analyses. The use of heights is an innovative perspective of delving into the fertility transition and social transformation entailed. The results confirm that the men with a low level of biological well-being (related to low socio-economic groups) were those who started to control their fertility, perhaps due to the effect that increased average family size had on their budget. The children of individuals who controlled their fertility were taller than the children of other families. Therefore, the children of parents who controlled their fertility experienced the largest intergenerational increase in height (approximately 50% higher). This increase could be due to the consequence of a greater investment in children (Becker’s hypothesis) or a greater availability of resources for the whole family (resource dilution hypothesis). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biological Living Standards and Nutritional Health Inequality in Transition to the Developed World)
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25 pages, 1755 KiB  
Article
Rural Height Penalty or Socioeconomic Penalization? The Nutritional Inequality in Backward Spain
by Antonio M. Linares-Luján and Francisco M. Parejo-Moruno
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(9), 4483; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18094483 - 23 Apr 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2670
Abstract
This article studies the evolution of nutritional inequality, measured through the male adult height, in one of the poorest regions of Spain, in southwestern Europe: Extremadura. With a wide sample of statures of recruits born between 1855 and 1979, conscripted between 1876 and [...] Read more.
This article studies the evolution of nutritional inequality, measured through the male adult height, in one of the poorest regions of Spain, in southwestern Europe: Extremadura. With a wide sample of statures of recruits born between 1855 and 1979, conscripted between 1876 and 2000, the research delves into the urban-rural height gap using coefficients of variation, tests of equality of means and proxy variables of a socioeconomic nature. The results of the analysis reveal that the strong anthropometric growth that Extremadura experienced since the last decades of the 19th century was accompanied by a less internal inequality. The lower heterogeneity did not eliminate, however, the urban-rural height gap during the period under study. In this sense, despite the absence of environmental differences between urban and rural areas in Extremadura, there was a clear rural height penalty in the region from the mid-19th century to the late 20th century. Rural punishment was fundamentally related to the greater presence of agrarian workers and the lower presence of wealthy families in villages and small towns. On the contrary, educational differences or differences in terms of nutritional health were not as decisive in the rural height penalization, at least when such differences are measured with the sources of military recruitment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biological Living Standards and Nutritional Health Inequality in Transition to the Developed World)
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22 pages, 2260 KiB  
Article
Stunting Rates in a Food-Rich Country: The Argentine Pampas from the 1850s to the 1950s
by Ricardo D. Salvatore
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(21), 7806; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17217806 - 25 Oct 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3472
Abstract
Little is known about the effects of malnutrition rates in the long-run. Applying the methodology recommended by the World Health Organization, this study estimates stunting rates for Argentine adult males from the 1850s to the 1950s. We use five large samples of army [...] Read more.
Little is known about the effects of malnutrition rates in the long-run. Applying the methodology recommended by the World Health Organization, this study estimates stunting rates for Argentine adult males from the 1850s to the 1950s. We use five large samples of army recruits, prison inmates, militiamen, and electoral records totaling 84,500 cases. These samples provide information about height in Buenos Aires province and the Pampa region, the most fertile, food-producing area of the country. As the study shows, estimated stunting rates remained stable from the 1850s to the 1880s and then declined persistently until the 1950s. The total decline was substantial: if fell from 15.3% in the 1870s to 5.6% in the 1940s, then stagnated. In this 95-year period, stunting rates went from “medium” to “low” levels in the WHO classification of malnutrition intensity. At the end of our study period (the 1950s) the Pampa’s malnutrition rate was only 3.5 to 4 percentage points above contemporary estimates for well-developed economies in Europe and North America. A significant expansion in the region’s production of grains and beef (food availability), combined with a sustained decline in infant mortality (increased health) were probably the two main underlying factors of this long-tern reduction in malnutrition. Yet, this association remains to be determined. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biological Living Standards and Nutritional Health Inequality in Transition to the Developed World)
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24 pages, 1632 KiB  
Article
Height of Male Prisoners in Santiago de Chile during the Nitrate Era: The Penalty of being Unskilled, Illiterate, Illegitimate and Mapuche
by Manuel Llorca-Jaña, Javier Rivas, Damian Clarke and Diego Barría Traverso
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(17), 6261; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17176261 - 28 Aug 2020
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3580
Abstract
This article contributes to the study of inequality in the biological welfare of Chile’s adult population during the nitrate era, ca. 1880s–1930s, and in particular focuses on the impact of socioeconomic variables on height, making use of a sample of over 20,000 male [...] Read more.
This article contributes to the study of inequality in the biological welfare of Chile’s adult population during the nitrate era, ca. 1880s–1930s, and in particular focuses on the impact of socioeconomic variables on height, making use of a sample of over 20,000 male inmates of the capital’s main jail. It shows that inmates with a university degree were taller than the rest; that those born legitimate were taller in adulthood; that those (Chilean born) whose surnames were Northern European were also taller than the rest, and in particular than those with Mapuche background; and that those able to read and write were also taller than illiterate inmates. Conditional regression analysis, examining both correlates at the mean and correlates across the height distribution, supports these findings. We show that there was more height inequality in the population according to socioeconomic status and human capital than previously thought, while also confirming the importance of socioeconomic influences during childhood on physical growth. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biological Living Standards and Nutritional Health Inequality in Transition to the Developed World)
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15 pages, 544 KiB  
Article
Regional Disparities in the Decline of Anemia and Remaining Challenges among Children in Tanzania: Analyses of the Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey 2004–2015
by Bruno F. Sunguya, Si Zhu, Linda Simon Paulo, Bupe Ntoga, Fatma Abdallah, Vincent Assey, Rose Mpembeni and Jiayan Huang
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(10), 3492; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17103492 - 17 May 2020
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3726
Abstract
The burden of child anemia is on the decline globally but remains prevalent in low- and middle-income countries, including Tanzania. Evidence suggests regional variation and a slow pace of decline even in areas with high food production. The factors behind such decline and [...] Read more.
The burden of child anemia is on the decline globally but remains prevalent in low- and middle-income countries, including Tanzania. Evidence suggests regional variation and a slow pace of decline even in areas with high food production. The factors behind such decline and remaining challenges behind child anemia remain understudied in Tanzania. This secondary data analysis utilized data including 7361 and 7828 children from the Tanzania Demographic and Health Surveys (TDHS) conducted in 2004–2005 and 2015–2016 separately to examine the decline of child anemia and regional variation thereof. We used a geographic information system (GIS) to visualize the changes and differences between regions and the two study periods, and used regression analyses to examine the recent determinants of child anemia. Anemia has declined among children under five in Tanzania by 42% over a one-decade period, but remained high in relatively high food-producing regions. The risk of anemia is still higher among boys compared to girls (AOR = 1.39, p = 0.005), 41% higher among children lived in households with more than three under-five children compared to those households with only one child (p = 0.002); lower among children whose mothers were educated (p < 0.001) or had first given birth when aged over 25 (p = 0.033); and 34% less among children in the wealthiest households (p < 0.001). Efforts are needed to address social determinants of health, especially targeting women’s empowerment through decreasing the number of children and encouraging child spacing, and poverty reduction, particularly in high food producing regions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biological Living Standards and Nutritional Health Inequality in Transition to the Developed World)
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Review
The Height of Children and Adolescents in Colombia. A Review of More than Sixty Years of Anthropometric Studies, 1957–2020
by Adolfo Meisel-Roca and Angela Granger
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(16), 8868; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18168868 - 23 Aug 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3413
Abstract
In this article, we present a review of the studies on the heights of children and teenagers in Colombia published since 1957. We focus on examining the geographic coverage, features of the population studied, height measurement techniques, authors’ profiles, and growth patterns in [...] Read more.
In this article, we present a review of the studies on the heights of children and teenagers in Colombia published since 1957. We focus on examining the geographic coverage, features of the population studied, height measurement techniques, authors’ profiles, and growth patterns in children. This relatively recent literature has been developed mainly by medical doctors who carried out rigorous measurements with highly specific time and space horizons. The first studies emphasized the differences among socioeconomic levels. Later, there was an interest in minority groups, such as indigenous people and Afro-descendants. Although most of the research lacked long-term vision, the overall balance shows that the country has been improving in anthropometric indicators over time, across territories, and in different socioeconomic groups. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biological Living Standards and Nutritional Health Inequality in Transition to the Developed World)
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