Racial differences in body mass indices of men imprisoned in 19th Century Texas

A Weighty Issue: Diminished Net Nutrition Among the U.S. Working Class in the Nineteenth Century

“…Close proximity to nutrition in the nineteenth century decreased the relative price of nutrition for farmers, and farmer's greater physical activity increased their BMIs and basal metabolic rates (Carson 2014). Moreover, Southern rural diets were associated with higher BMIs, and urban Northeastern diets were associated with lower BMIs (Carson 2009a(Carson , 2012a. In sum, black and white BMIs were in normal categories, and net dietary stress increased among the working class throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.…”

“…One common shortfall of military records that may be related to weights is a stature requirement for military service, and arbitrarily truncating shorter statures may underestimate weights because shorter people are more likely to have heavier weights; however, only taller individuals with lower BMIs remain in military records (Carson 2009a;Herbert et al 1993Herbert et al :1438. Fortunately, prison records do not suffer from such a constraint and the subsequent truncation bias observed in military samples.…”

“…The BMI coding system of the World Health Organization (WHO) provides thresholds for weight and obesity classifications: BMIs less than 18.5 indicate underweight; BMIs between 18.5 and 24.9 are normal; BMIs between 24.9 and 29.9 are overweight; and BMIs greater than 29.9 are obese. 4 Figure 1 demonstrates that the majority of nineteenth century U.S. black and white BMIs were in the normal category, and neither obesity nor starvation was common (Carson 2009a(Carson , 2012a. There was a sizable increase in BMIs with age, which is a standard part of the adolescent growth spurt (Bogin 2001:238-240).…”

“…Costa and Steckel (1997:50-55) found that BMIs likely increased during the second half of the nineteenth century. However, Carson (2009aCarson ( , 2012a found that black and white BMIs decreased throughout the nineteenth century, which, like decreases in stature, indicates that net nutrition decreased with the separation of food production from food consumption.…”

“…Height was inversely related with obesity because taller heights allow weight to be distributed over a greater surface area (Carson 2009a(Carson , 2012a. Compared with whites, blacks were more likely to be obese and less likely to be underweight because blacks have greater percentage muscle mass, and muscle is heavier than fat.…”