Body Mass Index Values in the Gentry and Peasantry in Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Poland

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the impact of social and occupational status on the BMI of the gentry and peasantry in the Kingdom of Poland at the turn of 19th and early 20th centuries. Use was made of data on the height and weight of 304 men, including 200 peasants and 104 gentlemen, and 275 women, including 200 from the peasantry and 75 from the gentry. Gentlemen were characterized by a greater body height than peasants (169.40 cm and 166.96 cm, respectively), a greater body weight (67.09 kg and 60.99 kg, respectively) and a higher BMI (23.33 kg/m2 and 21.83 kg/m2, respectively). Landowners and intelligentsia had a greater BMI than peasants (23.12 kg/m2 and 24.20 kg/m2 vs 21.83 kg/m2, respectively). In the case of women, there were no statistically significant differences in mean height, weight and BMI by their social position, and in BMI by occupational status. Underweight occurred less frequently in the gentry and more frequently in the peasantry (0.97% and 2.04%, respectively). Overweight was five times more common in gentlemen than in peasants (26.21% and 5.10%, respectively). Differences in the BMI of gentlefolk and peasants resulted from differences in diet and lifestyle related to socioeconomic status.

Did family size affect differences in body height in non-urbanized societies? Evidence from the Lemko community in Poland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

“…Researchers of historical and contemporary populations have analysed trends in body height and their various social and economic causative factors (e.g. Czekanowski, 1930;Bielicki et al, 1981;Bielicki & Welon, 1982;Komlos, 1985Komlos, , 1987Bielicki, 1986;Bielicki & Hulanicka, 1998;Susanne et al, 2001;Sanna, 2002;Komlos & Baur, 2004;Malina 2004;Carson, 2005Carson, , 2009Carson, , 2010Nowak & Piontek, 2008;Komlos, 2010;Czapla & Liczbińska, 2014;Liczbińska et al, 2016;Czapla et al, 2017;Liczbińska et al, 2017Liczbińska et al, , 2018. Although the height of an adult individual results from an interplay of genetic and environmental determinants (Silventoinen, 2003;Silventoinen et al, 2003;Bozzoli et al, 2009), it is considered a good indicator of environmental conditions and economic changes in a given place and time (e.g.…”

“…The gradual improvement in living conditions in Europe after the abolition of feudalism to the advent of industrialization translated into a positive body height trend (e.g. Kopczyński, 2006Kopczyński, , 2007Czapla & Liczbińska, 2014;Liczbińska et al, 2016;Czapla et al, 2017).…”