Forums > News > Are we getting taller?
Better nutrition and advances in medical science are probably helping towards that.
But keep in mind that the global population is rising, and food shortage is becoming an ever increasing issue, so that could very well have the average go down.
There is likely to be a healthy upper limit that humans can reach with their height. It seems that when you start to significantly deviate from the norm, your likelihood of health problems goes up too. Many of the tallest people had sadly reduced lifespans mostly due to heart issues.
Maybe these issues will be resolved and allow people to reach new heights, but by the time those breakthroughs occur, we might be starting to be part cyborg or android if you think the whole posthuman thing will happen.
It depends on which group of people you are talking about..
Europe seems to still be increasing on the average, the US is going down according to most things I have read. Primarily because the has a bad case of obesity. On that note the average shoe size in the US is going up.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/apr/04/usa
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3293191
http://www.slate.com/id/2065546/
I do not vouch for the scientific accuracy of these particular sites but they were the first seemingly reputable results that came up after a quick google search that supported what I said. Ha! Google scholar might give something better but much more long winded and fewer pictures hahaha >.<
All I know is most everything I’ve randomly come across in the past several years says that the American population is shrinking on average.
Oh I forgot… While obesity is the ‘supposed cause’ there may be other factors. For example the ‘base height’ you reach before puberty will dramatically affect how tall you end up finally. Which by my understanding is in part why females tend to be shorter than males as their puberty onset is earlier.
But it would seem that females in the US anyway (maybe males) are hitting puberty younger and younger and we aren’t fully sure why.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/09/health/main6756887.shtml
If that is the case in males too I could see how people might be perplexed by observations they have seen for young people height. Early puberty will make them taller earlier, but their height will cut up before they are done pushing the average down. Also you might notice some who work out more like the european kids not exposed to certain chemicals or maybe not eating a certain diet. who are growing taller than the old average. But for maybe ever 1 of them there are 4 or 5 who are artificially have their growth stunted due to other environmental factors.
romopo said: But it would seem that females in the US anyway (maybe males) are hitting puberty younger and younger and we aren’t fully sure why.
Too much soy in the diet maybe?
Soy? Why soy? LoL Does it have females type hormones? It’s most likely coming in the form of endocrine disruptors that mimic hormones….
“Of all the manmade toxins in our environment, we now realize that the most ubiquitous (the ones used to create plastics, pesticides, cleansers, dyes, flame retardants and white paper, among other products) may be the most worrisome. We identify these as endocrine disruptor chemicals (EDC’s), as they have been shown to mimic the action of hormones when absorbed by humans and wildlife.”
http://www.womentowomen.com/detoxification/endocrinedisruptors.aspx
romopo said: Soy? Why soy? LoL Does it have females type hormones?
Yeah, soy and other foods have phytoestrogens in them, which we still aren’t fully sure about the harm they can do to both sexes. Some say the effect is negligible if at all, whereas others think that it might be making men lower in testosterone and females too high in estrogens which can eventually lead to cancers.
But yeah, it all part of a bigger problem. So many industrial and environmental pollutants constantly around us, and going into our bodies. Not to mention the fact that some of the things we import from other countries are often not quality controlled as well as the could be. Hello lead pain from Chinese toys 
It doesn’t seem like it, but maybe we are.
One can’t say that we’re getting taller based on one person. In the case of Milia Obama, her parents, especially Michelle, are tall. It’s hereditary. Michelle is the second tallest First Lady, taller than the average American male, and is taller than Princes Diana was.
As for people as a whole, it depends on the population in question. Americans were the tallest up to the mid-20th century, after which much of Western Europe caught up with and even surpassed the US. Scandinavia and the Netherlands are taller. South Koreans and Japanese have also grown substantially. See http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2005/bigenough/special_heightgap.html for a decent overview on differences between populations, changes through time, and reasons for
oops, this is the correct url: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/04/05/040405fa_fact
Post Comment
You must be a member to post comments. Registering is free and only takes a few minutes!
You're Not Logged In
To get the most from HeightGroup.com you'll need to log in.
Latest Posts
- Cologne (16) - by bigmichael
- Gary Johnson the peoples persident (2) - by baseballjocksfv
- Jeans for Tall Men? (18) - by joebonnell
- who is the tallest gay guy on here (2) - by joebonnell
- I need to find and feel the power from a REAL GIANT BUD.... (3) - by primito13
- New servers (12) - by bodybuildermatt
- Don't want to be short (3) - by shrinkingman
- Have you shrunk? (39) - by shrinkingman
- OMG...I can't wear sz12 sneaker.... (8) - by danielcretten
- Pants - Wanna compare? (100) - by espresso123
Check out all of the latest posts in the Forums.