The impact of World War II on nutrition and children's health in Italy

Abstract

a b s t r a c tThe impact of World War II on the nutrition and health of Italian children is examined. During the Second World War (1939-1945, both per capita GDP and consumption collapsed in Italy. Infant mortality increased. The anthropometric measurements of a sample of schoolchildren show a loss in weight and height in comparison with the pre-war years. Measurements of conscripts born during the conflict show an interruption in the secular increase in height, with a decrease in the mean height of conscripts born in 1945. The adverse impact of the war on height, particularly affected the northern regions, and appears to be related to the 'geography of conflict' in Italy. Códigos JEL: I10 N44Palabras clave: Italia Segunda Guerra Mundial Racionamiento Antropometría r e s u m e n El artículo examina el impacto de la Segunda Guerra Mundial sobre la nutrición y la salud de los niños en Italia. Durante la guerra, tanto el PIB como los consumos per cápita disminuyeron notablemente. La mortalidad infantil aumentó. Las medidas antropométricas sobre un muestreo de niños, denota una reducción del peso y de la estatura con respecto al nivel pre-bélico. Los datos de los reclutas nacidas durante la guerra muestran como el proceso de crecimiento secular de la estatura se interrumpió. La estatura media de los reclutas nacidas en el año 1945 disminuyó. El impacto de la guerra en la estatura afectó principalmente a las regiones del Norte, y parece que esté relacionado con la «geografía del conflicto» en Italia.

Eating habits, food consumption, and health: The role of early life experiences

“…A possible explanation is that breastfeeding is more important than meat intake for survival at this early age. Moreover, infants were entitled to more generous rations in terms of calories than were adults or older children (Daniele and Ghezzi, 2019). Therefore, fetal or infant mortality is unlikely to affect our results for those aged 0-2 during WWII.…”

“…Given that the treated and control groups in the DD framework differ in age by construction and age is a strong determinant of health, we use the 2021 wave of the survey and adopt a triple-differences estimator to study the effects of meat scarcity on health outcomes. 29 Lastly, to estimate intergenerational effects, we focus on the children of treated and control mothers, i.e., the outcome variable in (1) in this case refers to the children but the treatment (cohort and regional meat scarcity) refers to the mother. Thus, we examine whether the meat scarcity experienced by the mother during her childhood is transmitted to the eating habits of the next generation.…”

“…For example, in Turin in 1941, these consisted of: 20 grams of meat, 150 of bread, 33 of potatoes, 25 of legumes, 25 of vegetables, 6 of rice, 7 of pasta, 50 of fruit, 12 of fat, 5 of cheese, 200 of milk, 16 of sugar (plus 1 egg per week), to guarantee a total of 819 calories per capita (Massola, 1951). The collection and distribution of food was administered by the State exclusively at the local level through the so-called Sezioni Provinciali dell'Alimentazione (Provincial Food Sections, see Luzzatto-Fegiz, 1948), leading many to rely on the black market to acquire basic goods (Daniele and Ghezzi, 2019). As the black market was also predominantly local (at most between city and countryside), the decrease in the number of livestock at the regional level likely captures the overall local availability of meat (both through rationing and the black market), providing a good measure of the meat scarcity individuals experienced during the war.…”

World War II cohorts and diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease later in life: An observational cohort study based on German claims data

“…However, the largest migrant groups in Germany stem from Italy, Poland, Greece, Romania, and Turkey 35 . All of these countries also experienced effects of WWII, closely associated with increased mortality, hunger, and stress [36][37][38][39][40] . Although this may lead to similar late-life effects on morbidity and mortality compared to the German population, it is possible that different timing of exposure may affect our results.…”

Health Shocks, Recovery, and the First Thousand Days: The Effect of the Second World War on Height Growth in Japanese Children

“…Mean heights of children declined in late childhood and adolescence in Germany, Italy, Belgium, Norway, and to a lesser extent Finland during the Second World War, though Denmark and Sweden were left relatively untouched (Angell‐Andersen et al. 2004; Brundtland, Liestøl, and Walløe 1980; Daniele and Ghezzi 2018; Ellis 1945; Howe and Schiller 1952). Interestingly, heights actually increased during the Second World War in Britain, in part because rationing improved the diets of British children (Harris 1995, 166; Magee 1946).…”