Carson Scott Alan
J Interdiscip Hist. 2012;42(3):371-91. doi: 10.1162/jinh_a_00255.
Body mass index (BMI) values reflect the net balance between nutrition, work effort, and calories consumed to fight disease. Nineteenth-century prison records in the United States demonstrate that the BMI values of blacks and whites were distributed symmetrically; neither underweight nor obese individuals were common among the working class. BMI values declined throughout the nineteenth century. By modern standards, however, nineteenth-century BMIs were in healthy weight ranges, though the biological living standards in rural areas exceeded those in urban areas. The increase in BMIs during the twentieth century did not have its origin in the nineteenth century.
体重指数（BMI）值反映了营养、工作强度和抵御疾病所消耗热量之间的净平衡。美国19世纪的监狱记录表明，黑人和白人的BMI值呈对称分布；工人阶级中体重过轻或肥胖的人都不常见。整个19世纪，BMI值都在下降。然而，按照现代标准，19世纪的BMI处于健康体重范围内，尽管农村地区的生物生活水平超过了城市地区。20世纪BMI的增加并非起源于19世纪。
