Rural Height Penalty or Socioeconomic Penalization? The Nutritional Inequality in Backward Spain

Luján, Antonio Miguel Linares; Moruno, Francisco Manuel Parejo

doi:10.3390/ijerph18094483

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Between the ranks of the tallest and the shortest in stature (students versus farmers and farm workers), the differences reach 6.7 cm. The results do not differ from other studies about the Spanish population in the 20th century, that reveal the biological well-being inequality among occupational groups and social classes, even among neighborhoods in the same city [ 6 , 36 , 64 , 66 , 67 ].…”

Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 59%

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Biological Well-Being and Inequality in Canary Islands: Lanzarote (Cohorts 1886–1982)

Candela-Martínez

Martínez-Carrión

Cervantes

2021

IJERPH

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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.

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Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 59%

“…The mean height increased 9.5 cm when it went from 169.9 to 179.4 cm. This was a large increase when compared to increases reported in other Spanish and European anthropometric studies [ 59 , 66 , 67 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 41%

Biological Well-Being and Inequality in Canary Islands: Lanzarote (Cohorts 1886–1982)

Candela-Martínez

Martínez-Carrión

Cervantes

2021

IJERPH

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“…Several studies point to the influence of educational level or SES of parents on height, finding that individuals with high SES parents were taller than the general population [ 32 – 34 ]. These studies may be seen in conjunction with other studies from Spain and Japan, showing that university students were taller than the general population in the same age-group in first decades of the twentieth century [ 35 , 36 ]. Most students in this period were from high SES families, which might also have been the case for our participants with tertiary education in the first two birth cohorts.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

“…However, this is uncertain since we were missing data on parental educational level in our study population. The height gap between students and the general population was reduced throughout the century, concurrent with the SEPE improvements in society [ 35 , 36 ]. This is in line with our findings of reduced height differences between educational groups.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Time trends in body height according to educational level. A descriptive study from the Tromsø Study 1979–2016

et al. 2023

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Objectives The objective of our study was to describe time trends in body height according to attained educational level in women and men in Norway. Methods We used previously collected data from six repeated cross-sectional studies in the population based Tromsø Study 1979–2016. Measured body height in cm and self-reported educational level were the primary outcome measures. We included 31 466 women and men aged 30–49 years, born between 1930 and 1977. Participants were stratified by 10-year birth cohorts and allocated into four groups based on attained levels of education. Descriptive statistics was used to estimate mean body height and calculate height differences between groups with different educational levels. Results Mean body height increased by 3.4 cm (95% confidence interval (CI) 3.0, 3.8) in women (162.5–165.9 cm) and men (175.9–179.3 cm) between 1930 and 1977. The height difference between groups with primary education compared to long tertiary education was 5.1 cm (95% CI 3.7, 6.5) in women (161.6–166.7 cm) and 4.3 cm (95% CI 3.3, 5.3) in men (175.0–179.3 cm) born in 1930–39. The height differences between these educational groups were reduced to 3.0 cm (95% CI 1.9, 4.1) in women (163.6–166.6 cm) and 2.0 cm (95% CI 0.9, 3.1) in men (178.3–180.3 cm) born in 1970–77. Conclusions Body height increased in women and men. Women and men with long tertiary education had the highest mean body height, which remained stable across all birth cohorts. Women and men in the three other groups had a gradual increase in height by birth cohort, reducing overall height differences between educational groups in our study population.

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“…For Extremadura [ 23 , 24 ], both the Gini index and the CV shows an increment for the cohorts born in the decades of 1850 to 1870, a subsequent fall in the CV until the last decade of the 19th century, following stagnation later and finally a slight drop in the cohorts born from the mid-1920s onwards.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Height, Nutritional and Economic Inequality in Central Spain, 1837–1936

García-Montero

2022

IJERPH

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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.

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Rural Height Penalty or Socioeconomic Penalization? The Nutritional Inequality in Backward Spain

Cited by 9 publications

References 45 publications

Biological Well-Being and Inequality in Canary Islands: Lanzarote (Cohorts 1886–1982)

Biological Well-Being and Inequality in Canary Islands: Lanzarote (Cohorts 1886–1982)

Time trends in body height according to educational level. A descriptive study from the Tromsø Study 1979–2016

Height, Nutritional and Economic Inequality in Central Spain, 1837–1936

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