74 METABOLISM AND GROWTH FROM BIRTH TO PUBERTY. 



the relationship between weight and height which has resulted, with 

 our laboratory children at least, in a better proportionment that is, 

 these children are somewhat heavier for a given height than are the 

 private-school children. 



The underweight child is a great care to nutritional experts, and so 

 the greatest stress is laid upon the question of underweight, and appar- 

 ently little, if any, attention is given to underheight. We have 

 pointed out that underheight may be due to erroneous dietary condi- 

 tions, although in many instances such conditions are perhaps entirely 

 unsuspected. But the chief attention of all dietitians and pedi- 

 atricians is given to the underweight of the child; hence, the stress 

 laid upon the larger proportion of weight for height. The desirability 

 of advocating this proportion is well substantiated by the importance 

 ascribed to the relationship between weight and height in the best and 

 recent studies of vital statistics. These statistics show clearly that 

 longevity is better favored in youthful adults, particularly under 30 

 years of age, if there is a certain degree of overweight; that is, that 

 those youths over the average weight usually have a somewhat better 

 expectancy of life. Beyond the age of 35 years statistics show that a 

 weight somewhat under the average insures a better life expectancy. 

 If during the period of early adult age, longevity is favored by having 

 the weight somewhat above the average, it seems a reasonable con- 

 clusion that this same condition must be advantageous for children. 

 Consequently we believe that during the entire period of growth the 

 weight should, if possible, be somewhat over the average and should 

 approach the ideal as indicated by the weight for ages of our private- 

 school children. Indeed, it seems logical to assume that if the private- 

 school children had been supplied with a larger amount of food, so 

 that they could have put on more flesh and had a proportion of weight 

 to height more nearly in accord with that found with our laboratory 

 children, they would have presented an even more ideal picture. 

 Apparently they were slightly underweight for their height, while our 

 laboratory children, selected from by no means as good an environ- 

 ment, showed a somewhat better proportion of weight to height 

 better when judged on the basis that excess weight is advantageous 

 during the period of growth. For these reasons we believe that all 

 curves which represent a so-called normal, either for height or for 

 weight, are drawn at too low a level, and instead of using the average 

 for normal, as is commonly done, a value perceptibly higher than the 

 average should be striven for in establishing any standards to represent 

 the ideal rates of growth in height and weight for the various ages. 



To establish the normality of our laboratory children, then, we have 

 the following proofs. These laboratory children represent a some- 

 what better proportion of weight to height than the private-school 

 children, represent a relationship of height to age and weight to age 



