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Home/Anthropology/Mains PYQ/2021/Paper I/Applied & Forensic Anthropology
UPSC MainsAnthropology Optional Paper I 2021 15 Marks Model Answer Available

Anthropometry, Nutritional Status and Sports Capability — 2021 Paper I

Question · 2021 · Paper I · 15 Marks

What is Anthropometry ? Discuss its role in assessing the nutritional status and sports capability of a person.

Model Answer

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Approach

  • Demand of Question: Define anthropometry and explain its applications in nutritional assessment and evaluation of sports potential.
  • Structuring the Response: Definition and measurements → nutritional indices → kinanthropometry and sports performance.
  • Key Dimensions to Cover: Height, weight, BMI, MUAC, skinfolds, body composition, somatotype, Heath–Carter and sports selection.

Model Answer

Introduction

Anthropometry is the systematic measurement of the size, shape, proportions and composition of the human body. Hansen and Cornog (1958) described it as the theory and practice of taking bodily dimensions with suitable instruments and systematically analysing the resulting data. It includes measurements such as stature, weight, circumferences, breadths, lengths and skinfold thicknesses.

Role in Assessing Nutritional Status

Anthropometry is one of the simplest, non-invasive and inexpensive methods of nutritional assessment. WHO recognises it as a widely applicable technique for assessing body size, proportions, composition, health and nutritional status.

Important indicators include:

  • Weight-for-age: identifies underweight in children.
  • Height-for-age: low values indicate stunting, reflecting chronic growth restriction.
  • Weight-for-height: low values indicate wasting, associated with acute undernutrition.
  • Body Mass Index (BMI): useful for assessing thinness, overweight and obesity.
  • Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC): useful for screening undernutrition.
  • Skinfold thickness: estimates subcutaneous fat and contributes to assessment of body composition.
  • Waist and hip circumferences: help assess central fat distribution and related health risk.

Anthropometric measurement → Comparison with reference standards → Identification of growth/nutritional deviation

Its advantages are that measurements are safe, inexpensive, portable, standardisable and suitable for large populations, and repeated measurements can reveal changes over time. However, anthropometry should ideally be supplemented by clinical, dietary and biochemical information because it does not identify the specific nutrient deficiency by itself.

Role in Assessing Sports Capability

The application of anthropometry to human movement and sports is termed kinanthropometry. It examines body size, shape, proportions, composition and maturation in relation to exercise and performance.

It assists in:

  • Talent identification and sport selection by matching physique with event requirements.
  • Assessing muscle mass, fatness and body proportions.
  • Monitoring the effects of training and nutrition.
  • Evaluating physical maturation and possible injury risk.
  • Comparing athletes across sporting disciplines.

For example, greater stature and limb length favour basketball and volleyball, while a smaller, compact physique may favour gymnastics.

Heath and Carter, in Somatotyping: Development and Applications (1990), quantified physique as endomorphy, mesomorphy and ectomorphy. Somatotyping helps relate body build to suitability and performance in different sports.

Conclusion

Anthropometry provides a quantitative bridge between human morphology and function. In nutrition it detects growth and body-composition abnormalities, while in sports it aids talent identification, performance assessment and training, making it an important tool of applied Biological Anthropology.

2026 Health as a cultural construct. 2026 What is meant by a somatotype? Discuss the Heath-Carter anthropometric method, giving its advantages over that of Sheldon's method. How can somatotyping be applied in sports sciences? 2026 Anthropometry in ergonomics. 2025 Examine the utility of human remains in forensic analysis. Discuss the facial reconstruction technique.

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