Posted on 09/01/2004 12:02:19 PM PDT by ckilmer
i'll read this later
Next they're going to say there's no such thing as Global Warming!
ping
Does not sound right - every knight's armor I have ever seen is built for smaller men - and they would have been the ones to live a "good" life.
Eating protein in the adolescent years is important.
At 39 years old I consider myself to be "early middle aged". I was just as tall this morning as I am now.
They data could show that average height in 1300 was 5'5" and average height in 1700 was 5'3".
Don't care.
I'm a male in early middle age, but I'm taller than modern college researchers.
I find issue with the conclusions of the report in that it does not address a well-known dietetic issue related to Chinese height variance. In the northern climes of China where wheat is more prevalent the heights are statistically superior to those in the southern climes where rice is the prevalent staple.
The findings sound plausible, but I believe that the conclusions are unsupported.
I could understand an argument that states inferior/reduced agricultural production later in history led to a decline in height. However, what I see here is an evolutionary assumption that 'as production capabilities increased man's height must also increase' being challenged. Correlation does not make for causation. Therefore the conclusions are unsupported within the article as presented.
Also doesn't match the size of doorways in very old houses, or the size of bunks on old sailing ships.
Well, we certainly know who to blame for THIS!
I thought so too, but my son, who will be 16 in a few weeks, is following precisely the same growth schedule I did, and is now over 5'11", despite becoming a vegetarian over a year ago and refusing to eat high-protein foods like beans and peanut butter. His feet are already as big as mine (I'm 6' 2 1/4").
His mother is under 5' 2", so if he gets taller than me it won't be because of genetics.
If your nutrition is "good enough", you will follow your preprogrammed genetic schedule -- even a diet relatively low in protein is "good enough" today, when food is so abundant. The main thing is to avoid any period of deprivation while growing up.
Supplements won't really help. If you want to get taller than you are genetically programmed for, you will have to eat huge amounts and get fat too, or else exercise in an extremely rigorous way, and even those steps will only give you an inch or two.
Then don't read.
I could have saved the guy lots of effort...
The buildings in Germany from the 1000's (ie. Goslar) have doors around 5'x2.5'. Armor from that period is not much larger, for individuals around 5'3".
The beds made for miners in Gold Rush California (1850's) are only about 5' length (ie. Columbia State Park or Bodie).
Karl the Great (Charlemagne) was considered average height at 5'6" in the 800's. He was nobility and Emperor.
Poor have been small until recently, rich have been taller.
More fish and flesh, more height, more starch - less.
The guy could have checked the cemetaries - sarcophaguses...plotted sizes from northern Europe to Italy...
I hope his study wasn't govenment funded.
bump
Have a closer look at a uniform worn by the average WW II soldier. A size 40 coat was large.
Ping.
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