Health
New research shows that how we live affects our growth and life expectancy. It confirms that there is a clear link between a person's height and longevity.
Researchers found that 200 years ago, there was a significant difference in height between working-class people and upper-class people. For example, in the 19th century, Europe saw a huge difference in height between poor London boys and boys attending the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst between conscripts and students studying at the Ecole Polytechnique in France, as well as between sons from the elite and those who grew up in homes of unskilled workers in Holland.
In 1780, the average height of a 14-year-old working-class child was 1.3 m, while a child of the same age from the “upper class” was much taller at 1.55 m.
Today, although health, nutrition, hygiene and education services have become more common, high society children continue to grow taller but more slowly than children from the working class. The difference between upper-class and working-class adults fell to 0.06 m.
Professor Bernard Harris, from the University of Southampton, explains that the aim of the study is to describe, analyze and explain changes in the growth and health of people from different countries over time. Also, scientists would like to find out how this will affect our human development in the future.
The researcher's work found that there have been significant changes in children's health over the past 100 years. These changes have profound consequences for health and longevity throughout the century.
The place of residence also plays a role. For example, two centuries ago, people in Scotland were 2.3 cm taller than those living in southern England, while Norwegians were among the shortest nations in Europe. Today, the average Scot is 1.73 m tall and is shorter than those living in the South East of England, who are 1.75 m tall, while Norwegians are in second place among the tallest nations in Europe, after the Dutch.
Improvements in nutrition and hygiene in South East England have led them to outperform Scotland, reflecting economic and social changes over the past 200 years.
Investing in the health of today's children plays an important role in determining the economic well-being of future generations, researchers say.