The short and the dead: Nutrition, mortality, and the antebellum puzzle in the United States

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Colgate University; North Carolina State University; University of Kansas
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• 发表日期: 2003
• 页码: 382-413
• 关键词: pork production; dietary change; LIFE; 19th-century; stature

摘要

Between 1830 and 1860 the United States experienced rapid economic growth but declining stature and rising mortality. Debate has centered on whether the American diet deteriorated in the mid-nineteenth century. Employing census and muster records, this article tests the hypotheses that adult height was positively correlated with local production of nutrients in early childhood and negatively correlated with local mortality conditions, urbanization, proximity to transport, and population mobility. Results indicate that antebellum economic growth was accompanied by an increasing nationalization and internationalization of the disease environment, which affected the health and longevity of the population.