The Antebellum Puzzle refers to the finding, first reported in 1979, that the height of the male U.S. population, although the tallest in the world, declined during the decades preceding the Civil War.
[3] Fogel and co-authors reflect the consensus view by concluding, that “the estimates… indicate a considerable decline in diet after 1840; the 1840 level was not recovered until 1870.
A large decline in per capita production of wheat, rye, pork, and beef accounts for this big deficit in American dietary history.
The lack of nutrients was demonstrated by the soaring prices of those foodstuffs, another downside indicator of food consumption.”[4] Adding that “…the increase in agricultural productivity did not keep up with the rapid growth of the population and its food demands.”[5] And “…food output did not keep pace with the demands of the urban-industrial sectors whose population increased approximately ten times during the first half of the nineteenth century….
It is possible this term arose from the nutritional outcomes the Antebellum Puzzle focuses on and the coinciding increases in cotton and tobacco productions as agricultural food stuffs became less in supply.