Obesity: Historical Overview: Cultural Underpinnings

Early European colonists, facing the hardships of adapting to a new land, necessarily adopted an austere diet. With the need for heavy labor and farming, weight was not an issue. Once the colonists moved past subsistence, however, ideas about diet and weight underwent a change. Girth became synonymous with good health, prosperity, and status. Around the beginning of the twentieth century social changes forced concern about weight on the middle class, partly as the result of changing fashions. Women cast aside their corsets, dress sizes were standardized, and men’s clothing began to emphasize good build. At the same time minor technological changes propelled anxiety. Scales, introduced in 1891, were often used at fairs for public weighing. The calorimeter, invented in 1894, made it possible for the first time to measure calories, the value of foods for producing heat and energy in the body. Ideas about appropriate weight were not equally applied to all classes. The U.S. Department of Agriculture developed recommended daily calorie counts and the cheapest food sources for workers to perform certain tasks.