The Average Height Of People...

[sandyRoe]

My father, born before WW1, was about 5'7" in height. My mother was smaller. I'm about 5'10". I notice lots of young chaps, and some teenage girls, who are about 6' in height. Was stunted growth in the past all down to poor diet?

[gness]

Hi, Sandy....wish I knew the answer. My parents grew up in poverty in the west of Ireland.
My maternal grandfather, when he enlisted in America, was then the tallest man in the army. He was strangely tall I recall.
My father's family....who lived on a diet of fish and what they could grow, are very tall. They are well known in Ireland and America for their strength and athletic prowess....world champions in various sports.
My cousins and my brother are very tall and well built.........

Then there is me.....five foot nothing....size two feet...and I was the first to have the benefit of good nutrition.....:-(

[beso]

Mosaic is on the right track. It isn't just nutrition directly but the way nutrition affects the expression of genes of subsequent generations.

In an environment with limited food it would be a disadvantage to grow a large children that consumed a lot of energy so people tend to have smaller children.

The science is called epigenetics.

[jno]

don't think so. jno jnr ate a lot of pasta and chips and stuff till he was about 12 (though we tried hard) and yet he towers over his parents, who grew up on a good healthy postwar diet of meat and veg. I don't have an alternative explanation, though.