Re:Human height remained unchanged for 2k years in Milan, fi...
by pmontra on Monday February 27, 2023 @04:20PM
(#34962008)
Anecdotally, in the Milan area in every single generation of people I know, the males are taller than both parents and the females are often taller than their mother.
Re:Human height remained unchanged for 2k years in Milan, fi...
by telotortium on Monday February 27, 2023 @05:09PM
(#34962638)
How much taller? People do shrink in height a few centimeters starting at age 40.
It absolutely can lead to taller people if the genetic height potential had been suppressed by poor childhood nutrition. You see this in stark form in developing countries where heights are rising rapidly (sometimes nearly a foot in one generation in individual cases). It's not only nutrition - it's access to more modern medicine, including vaccines and treatments, and improved sanitation that prevent childhood diseases that stunted people in the past.
If a population is already on average at its maximum genetic height potential, however, improved nutrition and healthcare isn't going to change height much.