Ben Seymour

[Temporarily Exiled]

I believe the Dutch are now the tallest in the world. Something to do with their diet and standard of living?

Not having so many children as in the UK living in poverty and thus having stunted growth probably helps, sure. Genetic factors also play in.

 

[Snoop Fog]

I believe the Dutch are now the tallest in the world. Something to do with their diet and standard of living?

I doubt it, much more likely to be down to genetics. The Scandanavians, particularly the Danish, are also notably a much taller race than ours.

 

[John William]

I doubt it, much more likely to be down to genetics. The Scandanavians, particularly the Danish, are also notably a much taller race than ours.

Only about 1/3 genetics, apparently:

Lead scientist Majid Ezzati, also from Imperial, told BBC News: "About a third of the explanation could be genes, but that doesn't explain the change over time. Genes don't change that fast and they don't vary that much across the world. So changes over time and variations across the world are largely environmental. That's at the whole population level versus for any individual whose genes clearly matter a lot."

Good standards of healthcare, sanitation, and nutrition were the key drivers, he said. Also important is the mother's health and nutrition during pregnancy.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36888541

 

[Temporarily Exiled]

Only about 1/3 genetics, apparently:

Lead scientist Majid Ezzati, also from Imperial, told BBC News: "About a third of the explanation could be genes, but that doesn't explain the change over time. Genes don't change that fast and they don't vary that much across the world. So changes over time and variations across the world are largely environmental. That's at the whole population level versus for any individual whose genes clearly matter a lot."

Good standards of healthcare, sanitation, and nutrition were the key drivers, he said. Also important is the mother's health and nutrition during pregnancy.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36888541

Exactly, I don't have better genetics than my parents, but I'm taller than both of them. We've been getting taller for generations, but the Dutch and Scandinavians had a bit of a head start in recognising that you need to feed kids to make them grow. We haven't quite figured that one out yet in the UK.

 

[BigBanker]

you need to feed kids to make them grow. We haven't quite figured that one out yet in the UK.

We've figured out how to make them grow, just in the wrong direction...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-44926893

 

[jrg333]

but the Dutch and Scandinavians had a bit of a head start in recognising that you need to feed kids to make them grow. We haven't quite figured that one out yet in the UK.

If this were true then American children would be the tallest in the world. Followed by Tongans, Italians, and Austrians. These are the countries with the highest daily calorie intake in the world, after all.

But they're not the tallest countries, so your theory is flawed. And reads rather like pointless UK-bashing to me.

Good to see that someone with an EU flag in their profile picture on a football forum(!) isn't bringing politics into everything and bashing his compatriots though eh? Because that would be such a dreary cliché, wouldn't it?

 

[WXF]

America has socialism for rich and rugged individualism for the poor. Your reasoning is flawed because a good diet is more than just calories consumed and as you are ignoring the greater inequality that exists there.

If we really care about our country why shouldn't we look and learn from better outcomes achieved in other developed (and usually more egalitarian) countries? If your love for your fellow man consists of weaponising patriotism to gloss over malnourishment and health inequality then you can keep it.

 

[Temporarily Exiled]

If this were true then American children would be the tallest in the world. Followed by Tongans, Italians, and Austrians. These are the countries with the highest daily calorie intake in the world, after all.

But they're not the tallest countries, so your theory is flawed. And reads rather like pointless UK-bashing to me.

Good to see that someone with an EU flag in their profile picture on a football forum(!) isn't bringing politics into everything and bashing his compatriots though eh? Because that would be such a dreary cliché, wouldn't it?

At the risk of dragging this further off-topic, the US suffers from high levels of poverty, as has Italy in its recent past. The same is not true of Norwegians, the Dutch and the Danes. The average height for Austrians is about 1 to 1.5 cm less than Norwegians, Dutch and Danes - nothing major. Nobody is saying that genetics aren't a factor at all - but our own genetics are actually very similar to Scandinavians.

How is this bashing compatriots by the way? I'm a shorty myself. You have to be pretty thin-skinned to see a table on average heights in Europe and find it to be a personal insult.

 

[Hants_red]

How tall was Curo, or say Alan Beer?

 

[Temporarily Exiled]

How tall was Curious, or say Alan Beer?

Was?

Alan Beer's not died, has he?