Just re-reading this thread. A few thoughts:
I have noticed school aged teenagers seem to be much, much taller than previous generations. I think that I've been aware of this for quite a few years but hadn't actually formulated any concrete thoughts about it.
I'm sure that I read somewhere - no idea where - a while ago, that this was indeed a fact. And the reason given was 'better nutrition'.
If so, this does seem to fly in the face of our current perception of the infamously poor, highly processed western diet. How does this jive with
better nutrition? Last I'd heard the typical processed diet was actually responsible for
malnutrition. Now, the majority of the teenagers I see out and about locally are not obese or particularly overweight, but they are much taller than previous generations (to my eyes) and not at all willowy. The girls especially are towering over me at my so-called-average of 5'5. I am imagining the average has shifted..?
What element of our contemporary diet could be contributing to this height increase? My observations suggest that this isn't particularly class or income dependent, as it appears to be fairly evenly distributed across all groups, unlike typical manifestations of obesity.
An acquaintance of mine suggested it was something in the cow's milk, another blamed antibiotics in cattle. Myself, I haven't got a clue. But we might have to begin increasing the height of doorframes soon enough
Edit: Not sure if I am
personally associating height increases as a 'positive' here, I am merely aware that culturally we tend to equate increased height with power, wealth, 'good' breeding and status, at least historically. Are these recent changes a positive manifestation, in your opinion?