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Americans no longer tallest people in world
Issue date: 3/1/07 Section: Science and Tech
LINCOLN, Neb. (U-WIRE) - It's official: Americans are no longer the tallest people on Earth. That honor now goes to Europeans, including the Dutch, Norwegians, Danish and Germans.
According to the Annals of Human Biology, Europe has overtaken the United States in the height department, a distinction the Americans had for the last 200 years.
In the United States, the current average height of an adult man is 5 feet, 9 inches, and for an adult woman, it is 5 feet, 3 inches, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In the Netherlands, though, men average 6 feet tall while the average woman is 5 feet, 7 inches, according to the Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands.
Though there are many reasons for the disparity in height, the Annals of Human Biology suggest the shift in growth trends might have something to do with the amount of junk food Americans consume in comparison to Europeans.
Jennifer Snyder, a marketing specialist at the University Health Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, agreed that the eating habits of Americans could have some effect on growth patterns.
"We (Americans) eat a lot more preservatives and additives (than Europeans), and the food is processed differently here," Snyder said.
Another reason why Americans are on average shorter than Europeans could be the result of more pollution in the air, Snyder said.
Although Americans as a whole are getting shorter, some are looking for ways to combat shortness.
In 2003, the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of synthetic growth hormone for youth with idiopathic short stature, or shortness for no apparent medical reason.
The treatment consists of an injection every day for many years, but the procedure is expensive, not usually covered by insurance companies and sometimes yields disappointing results - the average increase in height is about two inches.
While being extremely short can be a hindrance in everyday life, not everyone who uses growth hormones does so out of necessity. Many patients who opt to take a growth hormone choose to undergo the therapy for cosmetic reasons.
"For some people, taking it is more of a self-esteem issue," Snyder said.
According to the Annals of Human Biology, Europe has overtaken the United States in the height department, a distinction the Americans had for the last 200 years.
In the United States, the current average height of an adult man is 5 feet, 9 inches, and for an adult woman, it is 5 feet, 3 inches, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In the Netherlands, though, men average 6 feet tall while the average woman is 5 feet, 7 inches, according to the Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands.
Though there are many reasons for the disparity in height, the Annals of Human Biology suggest the shift in growth trends might have something to do with the amount of junk food Americans consume in comparison to Europeans.
Jennifer Snyder, a marketing specialist at the University Health Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, agreed that the eating habits of Americans could have some effect on growth patterns.
"We (Americans) eat a lot more preservatives and additives (than Europeans), and the food is processed differently here," Snyder said.
Another reason why Americans are on average shorter than Europeans could be the result of more pollution in the air, Snyder said.
Although Americans as a whole are getting shorter, some are looking for ways to combat shortness.
In 2003, the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of synthetic growth hormone for youth with idiopathic short stature, or shortness for no apparent medical reason.
The treatment consists of an injection every day for many years, but the procedure is expensive, not usually covered by insurance companies and sometimes yields disappointing results - the average increase in height is about two inches.
While being extremely short can be a hindrance in everyday life, not everyone who uses growth hormones does so out of necessity. Many patients who opt to take a growth hormone choose to undergo the therapy for cosmetic reasons.
"For some people, taking it is more of a self-esteem issue," Snyder said.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 30
Dave Schindler
posted 3/07/07 @ 8:22 AM EST
Perhaps the immigration policies of those countries are not as liberal as those of the United States and so the U.S. population is composed of many more races that are not historically as tall as the limited ethnicity of the the European nations. (Continued…)
shunto
posted 3/10/07 @ 1:50 AM EST
Are they numbre one in fatness....and large and big
Harvey Moul
posted 3/10/07 @ 2:01 AM EST
Perhaps if they compared apples to oranges and measured the heights of ethnically similar groups rather than all white europeans against a mixture of hispanics, asians, blacks and whites?
Of course, why make meaningful comparisons when you can use it for disingenuous hype and propaganda?
Shay
posted 3/10/07 @ 2:52 AM EST
The 12 Million Illegal aliens from south of our border are dragging down our average.
Marion Tinsley
posted 3/10/07 @ 8:26 AM EST
Dave and Harvey are correct. Euro nations are still mostly single eithinc groups. This article was obviously written by someone with a left wing agenda. (Continued…)
Win
posted 3/10/07 @ 9:14 AM EST
Left Wing agenda? Of course she does deserve to be called out on ignoring that we have traditionally shorter races in our society; I don't see any bias on this story. (Continued…)
Tom Scott
posted 3/10/07 @ 9:47 AM EST
First of all, as someone else said, this is old news.
Second, our air has gotten progressively cleaner over the past 60 years. It's cleaner now that it was for the previous couple of generations. (Continued…)
Dawn Macey
posted 3/10/07 @ 11:27 AM EST
Boy, nothing like scapegoating immigrants for everything...Will you all be blaming Mexican immigrants for the high rate of obesity in the US next time? How about blaming them for the high suicide rate, highest rate of anti-=depressant drugs in the world, epidemic cancer death rates, and number of deaths from diabetes related illnesses? God forbid that we look to our own eating and lifestyle choices for any of these problems. (Continued…)
bob
posted 3/10/07 @ 2:15 PM EST
Dawn - there's no scapegoating here - go do your own study and you'll find Americans of European decent are actually TALLER than previous generations (avg. (Continued…)
Collins
posted 3/10/07 @ 5:23 PM EST
The comments crying foul about the ethnic backgrounds fouling up the stats are hilarious. Do any of the people who wrote them actually believe European nations are ethnically homogenous? If anything, their immigration policies are much more open than America's. (Continued…)
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