Why are humans getting bigger?

[mistermack]

Watching England play Japan the other day, I noticed that there wasn't much size difference in the players. I remember years ago noticing a significant difference.
Also, people in Europe have been getting bigger on average, generation by generation.

Is it just down to better nutrition in the womb and following birth, or is there a genetic mechanism in the making of eggs and sperm such that a well fed parent gives rise to bigger offspring? ( I don't know of any, but I wondered if this had ever been investigated ).
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[Rum]

I blame Darwinism.

[Bella Fortuna]

And bad B-movies

[mistermack]

It's not the way that you say it
When you do those things to me
It's more the way you really mean it
When you tell me what will be.

Hey, 41 is too young to be quoting the moody blues!!
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[ficklefiend]

As to Japanese players, could be due to Japan caring a bit more now about football, and so putting forward a more optimum team!

[Bella Fortuna]

It's not the way that you say it
When you do those things to me
It's more the way you really mean it
When you tell me what will be.

Hey, 41 is too young to be quoting the moody blues!!
.

If there are age limits then this guy is in deeper trouble. It's all his fault.

[mistermack]

There's no age-limit to lying about your age!!
I'll still be doing it when I'm thirty.
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[Bella Fortuna]

I refuse to lie about my age.

Until next year, anyway.

[FBM]

sumo.jpg (26.27 KiB) Viewed 3036 times

[Feck]

No longer is it acceptable to bully all the self esteem out of tall kids at school ,so they are able to talk to the opposite sex when older ....this naturally leads to breeding.

[Pappa]

Watching England play Japan the other day, I noticed that there wasn't much size difference in the players. I remember years ago noticing a significant difference.
Also, people in Europe have been getting bigger on average, generation by generation.

Is it just down to better nutrition in the womb and following birth, or is there a genetic mechanism in the making of eggs and sperm such that a well fed parent gives rise to bigger offspring? ( I don't know of any, but I wondered if this had ever been investigated ).
.

I've read it's just nutrition. Europeans were generally malnourished for a long time and this had an effect on our height.

[mistermack]

I've read it's just nutrition. Europeans were generally malnourished for a long time and this had an effect on our height.

I think that's probably right, but it may be possible something else may be happening. You don't get the impression from history that the rich were particularly taller than the rest of the population. That's what made me wonder if something genetic might be possible.
Perhaps there could be some subtle way in which the genes for larger size were somehow favoured during meiosis, if the host was well-fed.
Or maybe a well-fed male could somehow favour the sperm that contained genes for larger size, with more resources, making them better swimmers etc.
It's just speculation, I haven't heard of any mechanism, I just wondered if anyone had, or could say if it was impossible for some reason.
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[Warren Dew]

I think that's probably right, but it may be possible something else may be happening. You don't get the impression from history that the rich were particularly taller than the rest of the population.

I get that impression. Check out the relative sizes of pharoahs and peasants in ancient Egyptian bas reliefs.

More seriously, I'm not convinced that "the rich" normally get better nutrition than "the poor". It seems to be primarily animal protein that affects height, and in the U.S. at least, the poor probably eat more burgers and the rich eat more vegetables.