Moscow University
Anthropology
Bulletin

The variability of fat deposition indicators in Moscow schoolgirls of the early 1960s (based on survey materials by V.S. Solovieva)

Zadorozhnaya L.V.

Lomonosov Moscow State University, Anuchin Institute and Museum of Anthropology, Mochovayast., 11, Moscow, 125009, Russia

Zadorozhnaya Liudmila V., PhD., mumla@rambler.ru

Abstract

Introduction. We use data on the morphology of children born in difficult war and post-war years and examined during the period when the most accelerated generation in Russia was born, which is considered to be evidence of a significant improvement in living conditions and life as a whole. The originality and uniqueness of the data make the task of analyzing it particularly interesting. Materials and methods. 1767 Russian schoolgirls from two districts of Moscow were measured in 1961-1962. Measurements included: length and body weight, chest girth; scoring of the development of a) fat deposition, b) muscles, c) shape of the chest, d) secondary sexual characteristics; constitution type; menarche age. Results. There is some stabilization of the average values of body length, chest girth and body weight after girls reach the age of 14. At the same time, the average BMI values throughout the observed period continue to grow smoothly at a rate of 0.5–0.7 kg/m2, and at 13-14 years old by 1 kg/m2 per year. In the 13 age group, 50% of girls had menarche. Discussion. The presented graphs of the age dynamics of the total body size of Russian Muscovites of school age surveyed in 1961-62 are similar to the “ideal” distant graphs of growth and development, corresponding to evolutionarily determined changes in the rate of the growth process in humans during the early stages of ontogenesis. It can be concluded that, despite the difficult living conditions in the hungry post-war Moscow, the stability of the human body to the effects of adverse environmental conditions was enough to fully implement the appropriate program of growth and development.

Keywords

anthropology; growth and development; body mass index; weight; age dynamics

DOI: 10.32521/2074-8132.2018.3.096-101

Цит.: Zadorozhnaya L.V. The variability of fat deposition indicators in Moscow schoolgirls of the early 1960s (based on survey materials by V.S. Solovieva) // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2018; 3/2018; с. 96-101

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