Posted on 04/08/2015 7:17:23 AM PDT by blam
Richard Ingham, AFP
April 8, 2015
The Netherlands is the land of giants: on average, its women stand almost 5 feet 6 inches tall, and its men 6 feet tall. But how the Dutch became the world's tallest people has been somewhat of a mystery.
After all, two centuries ago they were renowned for being among the shortest. What happened since then?
A popular explanation is nutrition -- a calorie-stuffed diet rich in meat and dairy products.
But that can't be the whole story, experts say.
Other European countries, too, have enjoyed similar prosperity and a rise in living standards, yet their citizens have not shot skywards as much.
The average male height in the Netherlands has gained 20 cm (eight inches) in the last 150 years, according to military records.
By comparison, the height of the average American man has risen a mere six cm over the same period.
Researchers led by Gert Stulp, a specialist in population health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, combed a Dutch database for clues.
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(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
[sarc]
I have been to the Netherlands and believe that the country’s unusual tallness is a result of self preservation. When the sea dyke breaks and the land floods, the tall people will be the only ones able to breath.
[/sarc]
“.. women stand almost five feet six inches tall...”
At five foot eight and a half inches... I must have come from the Amazons. :)
A 150 years of mass immigration in America, with the last 50 years being non-white, so we are comparing apples to Mexico and the orient.
It’s those wooden shoes. They just make the Dutch look taller.
Hmmm – You’d think that after centuries of ducking spinning windmills, they would be genetically predisposed to be shorter ...
Global warming.and evolution at work
.this is the Netherlands or lowlands all at low lying floodplains
The people have to grow taller because of the rising waters
I was only there once...but I couldn’t help but notice how tall some were. Several men over 6’6” and women at 6’. Perhaps a smaller population and tall folks oversampled? Who knows.
it is good to be tall
Thanks a freakin’ lot!
I really didn’t know what a SEA DYKE looked like, so I searched.
I wasn’t counting on using eye bleach this morning!
They may be tall, but they also have big butts and wear mom jeans.
There, I said it.
Dinaric Alps area - 6'1 (Balkans)
Dutch - 6'0
Montenegro - 6'0
Denmark - 6'0
Norway - 6'0
Sweden - 5'11 1/2
Serbia - 5'11 1/2
Germany - 5'11 1/2
Lithuania - 5'11 1/2
No offense momtothree, but did Maryland have a contest to come up with the ugliest state flag? wtf???
Didn’t hear about that one. I will say IMHO... Maryland does have a nice flag. Very distinctive.
Rutabagas. You can’t walk a block in Dutchland without seeing five or six of them wolfing down rutabagas.
Good point.
Sea dyke. I laughed, too. I deployed with a bunch of those in the ship’s deck division :)
Floor Jansen
Just keep importing muslims, and everyone there will get to be about ten inches shorter.
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