The Changing Body
The basic argument is rather simple: that the health and nutrition of pregnant mothers and their children contribute to the strength and longevity of the next generation. To take just a few examples, the average adult man in 1850 in America stood about 5 feet 7 inches and weighed about 146 pounds; someone born then was expected to live until about 45. In the 1980s the typical man in his early 30s was about 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighed about 174 pounds and was likely to pass his 75th birthday. Across the Atlantic, at the time of the French Revolution, a 30-something Frenchman weighed about 110 pounds, compared with 170 pounds now. And in Norway an average 22-year-old man was about 5 ½ inches taller at the end of the 20th century (5 feet 10.7 inches) than in the middle of the 18th century (5 feet 5.2 inches).
Full article on the correlation between human evolution and technology.
Interesting. But I’m not sure what to conclude from it all.
It’s hard to fathom how a 30-something Frenchman could only weigh 110 pounds. Life was rather hard in Norway in the 18th Century. The equivalent of nearly half the country immigrated to the United States during the last few decades of the 19th Century and first few decades of the 20th Century. Having better nutrition increased height by 5.5 inches in 200 years. That’s unheard of in evolutionary terms.
Ditto Ken’s comment.
And now, the average American is 50 pounds overweight, half will be diabetic within another decade, and the average lifespan will probably be back to 1850 levels by 2025. Progress?
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