ABSTRACT
Adults in most developed countries have undergone a significant change in body size and composition over the last century. If population data are generalised for developed countries over the 20th century, such trends typically indicate an increase in height of about 1 cm per decade and an increase in body mass of about 1 kg per decade (Meredith, 1976; Pheasant, 1996). However, since the mid-1980s body mass has increased disproportionately to height in adults. Between 1989 and 1997 the average New Zealand adult increased in weight by 3.2 kg but demonstrated no significant change in height, resulting in an overall increase in BMI of 1.1 kg.m2 over this 8-year period (Russell and Wilson, 1991; Russell et al., 1999). Unfortunately the increase in body mass and BMI values found in adults are also starting to appear in the younger generation. Recent data on 10-14 year old New Zealand children indicate that height did not change during the 1990s but body mass increased by 2.5 kg and BMI by 1.23 kg.m2 over this decade.
