Americans Getting Shorter and Lack of Health Care?: Be serious

New research shows that Americans are coming up short, but not in terms of money or lifestyle. Our growing problem is with our height.

The study, conducted by the University of Munich and Princeton University, found that the United States had the shortest population in the industrialized world, and the reason may have to do with the way people live. . . . .

Komlos said height revealed a lot about a country's well-being, including how long its citizens lived and how healthy they were. Researchers said that one reason for Denmark's high ranking could be that the Danish health-care system provides better care to children when they are young, the time of life when most growing takes place. . . .

This is a recycled claim about heights. For a long time Americans were relatively better feed than people in outher countries. Nothern Europeans (people who lived in colder climates) tend to be taller. As the standard of living improved in Europe, they caught up to the US. So why is height falling in the US? Simple, the percentage of the population from northern European stock is getting smaller. We have more people from Mexico and from China and other warmer places where people tend to be shorter.