The article aims to assess the importance of the timing of exposure to nutritional stress for adult stature. We test the hypothesis that exposure in adolescence (12 to 20 years of age) may have a more detrimental effect than exposure in infancy. To substantiate this, we analyse a sample of male prison inmates incarcerated in central Poland in the interwar period. We find that the secular trend in stature that had started in Poland in the 1860s was reversed in cohorts born between 1896 and 1904, who were exposed to nutritional stress during the First World War between the ages of 12 and 25 years. In comparison, wartime infants and toddlers did much better. In the improving economic conditions of the 1920s, they were able to undo the scars of war during their adolescence. The conclusion is corroborated by data concerning soldiers and conscripts to the Polish army. With regard to body mass index (BMI), we found that the trends among convicts and conscripts differ. This is caused by changes in the composition of the prison sample, related to the impact of the Great Depression. In summary, it seems that stature is a more robust proxy of well‐being than BMI.

中文翻译：

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波兰人间难题：1918-39年第二波兰共和国的生物生活水平†

本文旨在评估暴露于营养压力对成年身材的重要性。我们检验了以下假设：青春期（12至20岁）的暴露可能比婴儿期的暴露更具危害性。为了证实这一点，我们分析了两次大战之间波兰中部被囚禁的男性囚犯的样本。我们发现，始于1860年代的波兰人的世俗化趋势在1896年至1904年之间出生的人群中得到了扭转，他们在第一次世界大战期间的12至25岁之间遭受了营养压力。相比之下，战时婴幼儿的情况要好得多。在1920年代不断改善的经济条件下，他们能够消除青春期的战争伤痕。有关波兰军队士兵和应征入伍者的数据证实了这一结论。关于体重指数（BMI），我们发现罪犯和应征者之间的趋势有所不同。这是由于与大萧条的影响有关的监狱样本组成的变化而引起的。总而言之，似乎身材是比BMI更健壮的代理。