From the tallest to (one of) the fattest: the enigmatic fate of the American population in the 20th century

Abstract

Within the course of the 20th century the American population went through a metamorphosis from being the tallest in the world, to being among the most overweight. The American height advantage over Western and Northern Europeans was between 3 and 9 cm in the middle of the 19 th century. Americans were also underweight. However, today, the exact opposite is the case as the Dutch, Swedes, and Norwegians are the tallest, and the Danes, British and Germans -even the East-Germans -are also taller, towering over the Americans by as much as 3-7 cm. Americans also live shorter. The hypothesis is worth considering that this adverse development is related to the greater social inequality, an inferior health-care system, and fewer social safety nets in the United States than in Western and NorthernEurope, in spite of higher per capita income. The West-and Northern European welfare states, with cradle to grave health and unemployment insurance currently provide a more propitious environment for the biological standard of living than its US counterpart.Word Count of Abstract: 168

Does natural selection favour taller stature among the tallest people on earth?

“…In the mideighteenth century, the average height of Dutch (military) men was approximately 165 cm. This was well below the average for other European populations, and very much shorter than the average height of men in the United States, who towered over the Dutch by 5-8 cm [1][2][3]. Dutch men are now the tallest in the world, having grown by approximately 20 cm over the last 150 years [3,4].…”

Food prices and overweight patterns in Italy

“…As found in other countries by Komlos and Baur (2004), the relative price mechanism for adults of lower economic status passes to specific allocation of their disposable income on food that covers calorie requirements more easily by substituting low-calorie products with cheaper high-calorie foods.…”

Generational effects and gender height dimorphism in contemporary Spain

“…One possible explanation for the differences in adult height is the difference in individual ability to produce health. Height is generally sensitive to socio-economic conditions (Persico et al, 2004;Komlos and Baur, 2004). Since earnings (i.e., total monthly net household income) are measured in the survey as a categorical variable with eight response categories, we first transformed income intervals into a continuous income variable by estimating an interval regression model using age, gender and professional status of the head of the household as main covariates.…”

“…1 Some suggest that the development of the welfare state influenced height growth (Sunder, 2003). Accordingly, the average height stagnation of the American population during much of the second half of the 20th century could be well explained in part by the fragmentation of the health system along with other nutritional and environmental effects (Komlos and Baur, 2004;Komlos and Lauderale, 2007).…”