Mirror Mirror On The Wall, Who's The Tallest Of Them All?

Americans are not walking as tall as they once did.

From colonial times until after World War II, Americans were the tallest people on earth, as befitted the richest nation.

But European nations have overtaken them, according to a study. The Dutch are now the tallest and the Norwegians, Danish and Germans have also overtaken the Americans.

Why this should be is a puzzle, admit John Komlos, professor of economic history at the University of Munich, and Benjamin Lauderdale, of the politics department at Princeton, reporting in Annals of Human Biology.

Professor Komlos suspects it may have something to do with the junk food trend that hit the US before Europe. Alternatively, the more equitable healthcare systems enable Europeans to reach their optimum height, while many poorer children in the US remain deprived.

The data come from a variety of sources. Regular health and nutrition surveys in the US provide data on adult heights. Data gathered on US military personnel provide another source. European countries have also gathered reliable data as a basis for comparison.

The figures show that the average height of an adult white male in the US rose steadily until the generation born in the early 1950s. Average height then remained constant for a decade, increasing slightly among those born around 1980.

The black population experienced a stranger trend. Black men were the most rapidly growing group until those born in 1970-74 - the first black generation to match their white counterparts. Since then there has been no increase.

The first possibile reason is diet. The authors say half of household food expenditure in the US is on meals outside the home, which are "less balanced than those consumed at family dinners". A second possibility relates to healthcare. "Socio-economic inequality in America is much greater than in Western Europe and inequality has a negative effect on mean height," the researchers say. (Nigel Hawkes, The Times)

***** So what our parents have been advising us all this while is true. Have proper meals on time with a well balanced diet, no junk food, take care of your health and you'll be walking tall too.

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