MSNBC: Netherlands has tallest people in the world - Americans' Girth Grows as Height Stagnates - by Karen Springen

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Netherlands has tallest people in the world - Americans' Girth Grows as Height Stagnates - by Karen Springen

The June issue of Social Science Quarterly revealed that Americans—the tallest in the world since Colonial times—are no longer the globe’s giants. That title now goes to the citizens of the Netherlands. There, the typical man stands 6 feet tall and the typical woman 5 foot 7—both more than 2 inches taller than their U.S. counterparts. Back in 1850, the Dutch and other Western Europeans were 2 inches shorter than Americans.

What does it mean that Americans are now among the shortest and fattest people in the industrialized world? If a number of studies out in the last two months are any indication, the stagnating height and expanding girth in the United States are not only related, they may be a sign of a decline in the overall health of Americans—particularly children.