Land of the free and home of the ... short? America's growing problem

I think I also read somewhere fairly credible (but don't have the link, so how helpful is that?) that part of the problem may be the lack of micronutrients in the typical american diet. All those phytochemicals and minerals and healthy things that come in naturally in fruits and vegetables and whole grains help you grow.

I'm with you, there's nothing inherently more virtuous about being tall for a particular individual--but when applied to whole populations, it's a good measure of health. And due to our lazy and impulsive lifestyles, our health is getting suckier. Go USA!


(Crabby has a grouchy little health blog packed full of micronutrients! But http://crankyfitness.blogspot.com/ is way sillier and not nearly as informative as ThatsFit).

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I disagree...it may be politically incorrect but the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population is Hispanic. Hispanics tend to be shorter than the previous general population of the U.S. and that accounts for the decrease in height.

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Doy, Americans are getting shorter because of immigration. Mexicans and Asians are all genetically, on average, shorter than Europeans. Since American was originally founded by Europeans, we were a tall country. But as non-European immigrants become larger minority groups in the U.S., our average height is going to be lower -- good, bad or indifferent.

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I think you have to also consider the number of hispanic and asian immigrants that have come to the US recently. They are shorter on average than caucasians, and are bringing down the average. I have no gripe with immigrants, but we need to take that factor into consideration, and not blame it all on american's gluttony.

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I am 5' 10" and my spouse is 5' 7". Our daughter is 5' 4" but all the boys that she has grown up with are over 6 feet tall, and most of them are closer to 6' 4". We have been thinking all of this time that Americans are getting taller.

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Before we start getting hysterical about this, let's remember the U.S. has had a huge influx of immigrants from populations not known for their height (ex. Mexico, Asia, South America.......)

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Well, that may account for 1/8" or so, but don't you think our melting pot of nationalities might contribute to the average height of Americans? Think about our recent influx of immigrants from below our southern border. These men and women are shorter than many other nationalities. I'm sure a lot of these measurements have come from public school records where these new Americans attend. Go to those Scandanavian countries - their populations have relatively few immigrants compared to ours.

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k hows this sound get off ur stinking butt&exersise and quit eating mcdonalds for every meal and quit with all the twinkies

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It may also stem from the influx of immigrants of shorter stature.

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Perhaps this will wake up a generation of parents who feel that socializing their children and madly rushing from one activity to another is more important than cooking real food and sitting down to dinner as a family like "the old day's."
A disgruntled grandmother of drive through,Pizza eating, busy children.

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I'd have to see the statistics on this. I have read that some Scandinavian countries have passed America in terms of the average height of their citizens, but my three sons are all as tall as, or taller than, their parents: 6'2", 6'4", and 6'7" (I am 5'9" and their dad is 6'2"). The kids ate plenty of fast food growing up and they all went through a chubby stage around age 12 right before their growth spurts. I definitely don't see a shortness trend in my family.

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You add in the Millions of mexican to our population and it's automatic, inches average shoter.

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America is getting shorter because our imigrants are shorter. Latino, Hmoung, Vietnamese, etc. Please forgive incorrect spelling.

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I understand Jeff C.'s point, but I recall reading in the NYTimes that 10% of the US population missed a meal last year due to lack of funds. If the employment issues experienced in this nation continue, I don't see that being a naturalized citizen with no money is going to be much different from being a natural citizen with no money. That said, I blame the fast food and hormone infused foods. Have you seen how womanly the little girls look now. Kids even get pimples earlier than I remember growing up.

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I don't see anywhere that there are controls for demographics. There are too many variables in the U.S. population to make such a statement. The researchers need to sample the same ethnic populations that were measured years ago before we can make the blanket statement that our stature is compromised by our nutritional status. You can do anything you want with statistics.

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GEEEEEZ!!!! Enough already of you self righteous ignorant people blaming everything on the immigrants, particularly of hispanic origin!
Everyone here came from another country unless indiginous (native American) and even they at one time came from somwhere else as this nation, relatively speaking is still in it's infancy and with the way it is going with such small minded people residing here, quite possibly we will not see another 200 hundred years!!

Also, it is those same immigrants you mention that are willing to take the jobs the lazy Americans will not..Try being out in a field in 110 degree weather earning far below minimum wage and still managing to send money home to your families!!

I somehow do not envision when God created this world he had placing borders in mind!

Shame on you!!!

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I am an RN, and ran a community wellness program. I can tell you that the Jeff C. is correct in his assumption - Hispanics and Asians are the larger component of our current immigrants, who tend to be shorter on average, than the European nationalities that immigrated to the US 50 to 200 years ago. We have one of the very finest healthcare systems in the world, it is not due to poor childhood healthcare, that's ridiculous. It is mainly due to our nationality composition, and not due to our diet, increased sedentary lifestyle, shoddy healthcare, etc. Not that some of these issues aren't contributing to many other health issues such as obesity, heart disease, Type II diabetes, etc. Just not the largest causative factor in our shrinking height. And we're not really getting shorter, what the statistics are actually showing is that we aren't getting taller with each generation, as we have done consistently over the last 200 years.

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There is too something wrong with being short! Global warming aside (tall people retain heat more efficiently), taller is (generally) stronger, and more attractive. Elevator shoes and ankle-breaking platform shoes don't count. Not even leg-extension surgery would, if there were such a thing available. Tall people even get paid more, on average, according to empirical surveys. People don't pick on tall folks, only runts, and this holds for both male and female. I am short ("petite" doesn't assuage it) and no one takes me/us seriously, unless we're heavily armed--and I'm not talking about bicep or tricep density!

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I am an RN, and ran a community wellness program. I can tell you that the Jeff C. is correct in his assumption - Hispanics and Asians are the larger component of our current immigrants, who tend to be shorter on average, than the European nationalities that immigrated to the US 50 to 200 years ago. We have one of the very finest healthcare systems in the world, it is not due to poor childhood healthcare, that's ridiculous. It is mainly due to our nationality composition, and not due to our diet, increased sedentary lifestyle, shoddy healthcare, etc. Not that some of these issues aren't contributing to many other health issues such as obesity, heart disease, Type II diabetes, etc. Just not the largest causative factor in our shrinking height. And we're not really getting shorter, what the statistics are actually showing is that we aren't getting taller with each generation, as we have done consistently over the last 200 years.

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The Japanese got taller over the years, especially after the war, because their diet got more protein and fat in it after about 1945. You can see a tremendous difference in the generations - some of the younger boys are getting up to 6 feet.

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