Notes on the history of nutritional anthropometry

This paper reviews briefly the history of the use of growth for assessing nutritional status. The first significant development occurred during the early part of the 19th century when studies of army conscripts and of English working children established that poor growth was a reflection of poverty, malnutrition, and disease. The development of statistics later in the 19th century had an explosive effect on growth and development research and provided the techniques necessary for the elaboration of growth standards. The preferred indicator of nutritional status during the early part of the 20th century was weight for height, children being usually considered undernourished if they were 10% below the ideal weight for height and age. It was not until the 1940's that longitudinal growth data arising from the studies implemented in the 1920's and 1930's became available for use as percentile standards. The appropriateness of Western growth standards for developing countries became a topic of debate as many anthropometric surveys began to be carried out in developing countries after World War II. Efforts to develop valid, reliable, and simple indicators of nutritional status for use in developing countries continue to this day. The functional implications of growth retardation, particularly the contrast between stunting and wasting, is likely to be an important subject for future research.