Comparing across ethnic/cultural groups is a slippery path.
Talk to me about trends within cultures and Iāll listen. Tall people with little body fat is the norm in the Netherlandsā¦neither is the norm in the South Pacific, where a higher BMI is still considered the ideal.
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Iād like to follow along. Height and weight, and BMI are important for the children I treat.
It is my impression that the US does not have an agreed upon interpretation of BMI for children. Iād love to learn more.
A āpoor dietā, by definition, canāt be a ārichā thing, but I am curious about if and how shorter might have come to be a negative thing, or taller a positive.
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Itās about inadequate/healthy nutrition in the diet of the children in their school years due to factors such as living conditions and socioeconomic status. From this study they think weigh gains and height are closely linked to the quality of the childrenās diet. Up until the age of 5 most children grow normally and healthy. Some countries invest more in the well-being of children and this is the result.
According to some studies, children in low-income families tend to be fatter. Parents work hard, not enough time to cook, the children eat more fast food than home-cooked food. Stress and safety in the home and their environment are also some of the factors.
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Thank you. I clicked the Lancet link, but it did not take me to the original publication. Presumably then, the Netherlands invests the most in the well-being of children abd East Timor and Guatemala the least?
I can see the idea being true in general, but my oldest is short and stout, looks just like my sister in-law, and my youngest tall and lean, like my dad, and youngest got less time and home cooked food. Just anecdotal of course.
I agree with the idea, and itās why some kids get āfreeā breakfast and lunch at school here too.
Iām going to look for the original article.
Itās only a small factor. They/the study somehow completely didnāt take genetics into account.
The Dutch diet is high dairy and meat based (only in 3 generations, they used to be same height as other Europeans and did not eat so much dairy and meat). Apparently, Dutch children are āhappiest*ā in the world according to latest poll. That are also some of the factors.
(* most insolent more like)
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Interesting! Especially the three generation part. Is that across āracesā? It reminds me of the āOrchid childā theory. I wonder if Dutch children could be especially sensitive to good diet and environment.
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Comparison is indeed a slippery path.
Also, high weight in the Pacific is due to a range of issues-- whilst historically there was some value placed on size, a lot of this is also down to colonialism and food sourcing on the islands. A lot of processed food is part of the diets, and for those wondering about why fruits arenāt higher, many islands/ post-colonial nations are in thrall to structural adjustment programmes that make export crucial. In the latter regard I know less about the Pacific (and even then there are important distinctions to make between Melanesia and Polynesia).
The question of dealing with weight is fraught, even there (and again āthereā is so complicated-- are we talking Fiji, Samoa, PNG, Papua, etc.)ā¦
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On my first trip to the Netherlands I first thought they had strange bikes because the proportions seemed weird. Then I realized that the seats and handle bars had all been raised extremely high as the people were so tall. When I was in London, I worked with a woman who was from France. Her boyfriend was Dutch. One weekend she went to visit his family in holland. When she came back to work, I asked her how the weekend went. She told me she felt like a midget in a family of giants. All of her boyfriendās family was tall and their furniture was scaled to their height. When she sat on the sofa she said her feet didnāt touch the floor.
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The first time I went to Amsterdam, I (<5ā tall) was hit on by a man with dwarfism, who I imagine was thrilled to death to see someone close-ish to his own height.
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I can bring something of an historical perspective to this (at least from a UK point of view). As I have mentioned before, in real life I am a military history researcher and author with a particular interest in the Great War. One of my books is about food during the war. As part of my " research archive", I was able to undertake an analysis of men who had enlisted into my townās Territorial battalion (similar to an American National Guard unit).
There is a clear division in social class between men who were officers and the others. Officers were invariably middle class. The other ranks were invariably working class - men who worked in manual labour jobs in the areaās cotton mills and hat works. Dietary differences between the social classes are well reported in Victorian and Edwardian Britain. And there was very clear evidence that this led to differences in height - on average, officers were two inches taller than the men they commanded.
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Have you watched āThe Great British Menuā? One season was dedicated to food during WW 2.
ETA āSeries 9: D-Day Banquetā.
I watched the first couple of series but not the more recent ones
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This is totally anecdotal, but Iāve noticed that people who have moved to the US from Asia (in my case, mostly China and Vietnam) and have kids born in the USA tend to have their kids grow up quite a bit taller than their parents.
My wild-guess theory is that the families tend to at least partially adopt western-type higher protein diets vs more plant-based diets where they moved from and thatās partly what causes the kids to reach the maximum of their potential height.
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That makes sense to me. I wouldnāt be surprised if even within the same country, each generation is a bit taller than the last.
But Iām still curious; is it because being taller is a sign of eating well that being taller is desirable?
When I was very young . The doctor told my mom . My God he has a huge head . Bowling ball size . I am 6ā8" . Lol . Something happened along the way.
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Sounds like the rest of you caught up with your head.
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No idea. Iām pretty sure that kidsā being well nourished is desirable by parents the world over, though. Possibly being taller is just bycatch to some.
Hormones in food (and other things) might have something to do with it too.
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You make an excellent point.
