The Changing Body
Health, Nutrition, and Human Development in the Western World since 1700

This fascinating and groundbreaking book by an eminent team of scholars provides an accessible introduction to anthropometric history.

Roderick Floud (Author), Robert W. Fogel (Author), Bernard Harris (Author), Sok Chul Hong (Author)

9780521705615, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 31 March 2011

456 pages, 86 b/w illus. 74 tables
22.8 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm, 0.73 kg

'… The Changing Body is a very important book … well written and organised … an excellent book that I will reread again and again for insight and inspiration.' Journal of Continuity and Change

Humans have become much taller and heavier, and experience healthier and longer lives than ever before in human history. However it is only recently that historians, economists, human biologists and demographers have linked the changing size, shape and capability of the human body to economic and demographic change. This fascinating and groundbreaking book presents an accessible introduction to the field of anthropometric history, surveying the causes and consequences of changes in health and mortality, diet and the disease environment in Europe and the United States since 1700. It examines how we define and measure health and nutrition as well as key issues such as whether increased longevity contributes to greater productivity or, instead, imposes burdens on society through the higher costs of healthcare and pensions. The result is a major contribution to economic and social history with important implications for today's developing world and the health trends of the future.

1. Our changing bodies: 300 years of technophysio evolution
2. Investigating the interaction of biological, demographic, and economic variables from fragmentary data
3. The analysis of long-term trends in nutritional status, mortality, and economic growth
4. Technophysio evolution and human health in England and Wales since 1700
5. Height, health, and mortality in continental Europe, 1700–2100
6. The American experience of technophysio evolution
7. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Biophysics [PHVN], Economic history [KCZ], Development economics & emerging economies [KCM], Anthropology [JHM]