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by Daydreamer on July 28th, 2005

Daydreamer

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Is each generation of humans becoming taller than the last? If so, why?

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  • by scymitar72 on July 30th, 2005

    scymitar72

    This is a difficult question because the trends vary depending upon the region of the globe. Where medical care and proper nutrition are readily available, growth trends are rising. Where there is an absence of these, growth trends decrease. More so than evolution, as Encyclopedia John stated, nutrition and health care play a major role. "Until the general rise in human health the general trend was as urbanization increased height declined."

    I did find some information regarding growth trends. It seems that height is increasing by 10-30 millimeters per decade in most European Countries.

    http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cabi/pns/2000/00000059/00000002/art00017


    The following is an excerpt from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_height:

    "Growth and height have long been recognized as a measure of the health and wellness of individuals, hence part of the reasoning for the use of growth charts. Genetics is a major factor in determining the height of individuals, though it is less influential in regard to populations. Average height is increasingly used as a measure of the health and wellness of populations. This is attributed as a significant cause for the trends of increasing height for egalitarian populations where medical care and proper nutrition are more equally distributed. Diet, exercise, fitness, pollution exposure, sleep patterns, and climate are other possible factors.

    The relationship between genetics and environment is uncertain. Certainly there are substantial relationships in the general heights of biological families; and the heights of parents and family are a fairly good predictor for the height of their children. However, as cited, there is strong environmental influence as well. Asian populations were once thought to be inherently shorter, though it now seems that humans as a species probably have a similar genetic height potential, and it is clear that genotypic size has not yet been realized."

    Check out this link as it also has a chart of average height/country.

    Comments

    • Good answer, thanks! :-)

      Daydreamer

      by Daydreamer on July 31st, 2005

    • Great!

      matermotley

      by matermotley on November 22nd, 2005

    • Maybe the question was moderated. Genes have no influence in height *becoming* taller over historical eras.

      Quirkie

      by Quirkie on January 30th, 2006

    • I have done a lot of research and this makes perfect sense to me, keep an open mind
      http://www.angelfire.com/space2/noah/

      Sean_T4365

      by Sean_T4365 on February 5th, 2011

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