The Effect of Parental Consanguinity and Inbreeding on the Anthropometric Measurements of Children

The present paper deals with the effect of parental consanguinih; on the anthropometric measurements of children. 120 children of the Sheikh Siddiqui community of Rasoolpur Aanth village of the Hardoi district were surveyed in 2010-11 . It is visible that inbreeding caused significant difference in all anthropometric measurements recorded (height, weight & head circumference). INTRODUCTION Consanguineous marriage has lots of negative impact on the health of offspring of consanguineous couples. If we go through the literature we find that there is very little work available which shows relation between parental consanguinity and anthropometric measurements. The works of Schull & Neel (1965) on Japanese population suggest that parental consanguinity diminishes body size of the offspring's of consanguineous cou pies. Mortan (1958) reported a slight but significant effect of consanguinity on weight, height and chest girth at the age of nine months. Yaqoob Muhammad (1996) observes effect of inbreeding on the early child health in Lahore, Pakistan. He studied children below 2 years of age and he found that effect of inbreeding on the anthropometric measurement is not consistent. Badaruddoza, Mohd Afzal and Mahazir Ali (1998) observed the effect of parental consanguinity on the fetal growth and development at birth in north India. They concluded that the parental consanguinity cause high incidence of congenital disorders among children and also effects normal growth of consanguineous child. Paddaiah & Reddy (1980) found that inbreeding caused diminution in all anthropometric measurements (weight, height, chest girth, calf girth, and head girth and head length) except head breadth. But a significant difference in the anthropometric measurements •Address for Communication: *Dr. Waseem Fatima, Guest Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, University of Allahabad, Allahabad-211002 The Oriental Anthropologist, Vol. 17, No. 1, 2017, Pages 163-169 © OICSR, Allahabad Corresponding Author E-mail: waseemfatima2008@gmail.com