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Why Dutch People Are So Tall
BI - AFP ^ | 4-8-2015 | Richard Ingham, AFP

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.

(snip)

(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: dna; dutch; height; heritage
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To: blam

America used to be the world’s tallest nation until 2007 when Holland passed us. In 1850 the average American was 2.5 inches taller than your average European. The change has mostly come from opening the floodgates to immigrants in the 1960s. We imported a lot of people shorter than the average American. No doubt better nutrition in other nations, especially Asia, has increased their height. But the biggest reason why America lost its standing as the tallest nation in 2007 is the simple importing of 10s of millions of immigrants over the past 50 years.


21 posted on 04/08/2015 8:25:45 AM PDT by Freedom_Is_Not_Free (q)
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To: blam

I was an exchange student in holland about 30 years ago. The Dutch were tall back then. I remember walking into a bar and being the shortest person there - and I am about 6’.

All the Dutch I knew smoked cigarettes, and drank beer and coffee, all day and night. I figured that is what made them so tall.


22 posted on 04/08/2015 8:34:03 AM PDT by Cowboy Bob (Isn't it funny that Socialists never want to share their own money?)
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To: Freedom_Is_Not_Free

I should have said non western European immigrants. Our nation is nothing but immigrants and offspring, but I mean when we changed in the 1960s from primarily western European immigrants to mostly Hispanics from the western hemisphere..


23 posted on 04/08/2015 8:34:12 AM PDT by Freedom_Is_Not_Free (q)
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To: blam
It was around the time that song "Short People" came out. Many short Dutch people became ashamed of their lack of height.

That so depressed them so much they stopped thinking about having sex. Naturally, it was the taller Dutch people who paid Randy Newman to write the song.

In fact the original lyrics Newman wrote were "short Dutch people, got no reason to live...etc." The word Dutch was excised for the American market.

24 posted on 04/08/2015 8:37:57 AM PDT by driftless2 (For long term happiness, learn how to play the accordion.)
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To: Darren McCarty

My mother’s side of the family is from Norway as is my mother in law’s family. My family says it’s their Norwegian roots that makes them short. My husband ‘s family says the same thing about their being fairly tall. At a family reunion a few years ago, my great aunts and uncles and their kids kept asking,”Who is that big guy over there?” when seeing my husband. There are always exceptions to the norm, bummer for the men in my family.


25 posted on 04/08/2015 8:39:47 AM PDT by NorthstarMom
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To: blam

Gehakt.


26 posted on 04/08/2015 8:45:26 AM PDT by roamer_1 (Globalism is just socialism in a business suit.)
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To: momtothree

I think so too :-)

Some flags look so much alike, you have to think for a minute to figure out which state it belongs to.

Doesn’t happen with our flag :-)

-JT


27 posted on 04/08/2015 9:29:14 AM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: notdownwidems

Maryland’s flag comes from Lord Baltimore’s crest. I think it looks nice, but why they would choose to have a British nobleman’ crest as a state flag is the part I don’t get.


28 posted on 04/08/2015 9:31:06 AM PDT by VanShuyten ("a shadow...draped nobly in the folds of a gorgeous eloquence.")
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To: VanShuyten

The state began as a charter to George Calvert. I don’t know, but I guess it was a nod to history and beginnings...

Many places in the original 13 that became states are named after British aristocrats.

JT


29 posted on 04/08/2015 9:39:47 AM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: blam
But how the Dutch became the world's tallest people has been somewhat of a mystery.

He means someTHING of a mystery.

30 posted on 04/08/2015 10:04:32 AM PDT by Arthur McGowan
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To: blam

Only paying for your own dinner on a date makes you taller.


31 posted on 04/08/2015 10:09:36 AM PDT by SoothingDave
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To: blam

I had always heard that the impact of the 1994 famine had a permanent impact on the size of the Dutch for subsequent generations.

Dutch Famine of 1944
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_famine_of_1944


32 posted on 04/08/2015 10:13:08 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: barbarianbabs
it is good to be tall

It's rough on one's backbone!

33 posted on 04/08/2015 11:35:58 AM PDT by Does so (SCOTUS Newbies Imperil USA...)
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To: Vigilanteman

I can’t believe you wrote #2. I almost choked on my food.


34 posted on 04/08/2015 5:03:38 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Resist We Much)
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To: fieldmarshaldj
Like it or not, the probability of reproduction is a major factor in what characteristics are most likely to be passed on to the next generation.

A close friend of mine got one of those DNA tests and always assumed his ancestors came mainly from central and eastern Europe. Test came back with 12% Mongol gene markers.

Genghis Khan and his men were busy spreading their seed around back in the day . . .

35 posted on 04/09/2015 4:57:38 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: taxcontrol

I think there is less gravity holding them down on that part of the world.


36 posted on 04/09/2015 5:02:15 AM PDT by Hot Tabasco (Uncle Sy: "Beavers are like Ninjas, they only come out at night and they're hard to find")
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To: notdownwidems; momtothree

Our first 2 daughters were born in Maryland years ago. I did not know the flag’s design then.
Seeing it now - don’t know about ugly, but it makes me dizzy as it ‘waves.’


37 posted on 04/09/2015 8:27:42 PM PDT by USARightSide (S U P P O R T I N G OUR T R O O P S)
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To: NorthstarMom

‘My mother’s side of the family is from Norway____’
Speaking of Norway - - -
My 2 sister’s-in-law, one in her late 70’s now, the other deceased at 86, born of pure Norwegian parents who emigrated to New York, were always some of the tallest women around, back in the 1950’s to at least the 1980’s.
At about 5’6” and 5’8,” they were certainly taller than my (Scottish) side of the family!


38 posted on 04/09/2015 8:49:18 PM PDT by USARightSide (S U P P O R T I N G OUR T R O O P S)
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To: USARightSide

We just drew the short stick with our Norwegian genes. At 5’4” my mom and I are much taller than all the other women on that side of the family. Don’t know where she got her height, her mom and aunts were all barely 5’ tall.


39 posted on 04/09/2015 9:10:06 PM PDT by NorthstarMom
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To: NorthstarMom

Drawing the short stick - - Norwegian genes -

Our 4 daughters - with the Norwegian and Scottish genes, range from five feet two, to five feet five. Dad is five foot 10, and Mom, five feet!
I don’t think we can account that much by looking at our ancestors - ?

Altho I think 2 of our grandchildren - 13 and 17, will be tall because it looks like it already, with their Dad’s very tall side, and ‘other’ grandmother’s (tallish) Norwegian ancestry, come to think of it!

Then there’s the occasional kid who comes in on the short side of tall parents - !
Shall we talk about weight - - ???! nah!


40 posted on 04/09/2015 9:34:58 PM PDT by USARightSide (S U P P O R T I N G OUR T R O O P S)
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