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08-16-2015, 04:39 PM
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Getting Taller: Study on European Height (DNA & Dietary Changes)
This is a very cool paper. It richly compiles biometric data on average height of Europeans from the Mesolithic Age, through the Neolithic, Corded, Beaker, Medieval to the Modern.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6bV_tjpW5yI/U-mbqWUIhGI/AAAAAAAABJE/76TLdGIA1rc/s1600/male+height.PNG
The authors make some fairly reasonable assertions in my opinion. One being that tallness is associated with certain male haplogroups such as I-M170 and R-U106. Check out the tables in the back of the paper.
That is not at all to suggest that tallness is associated with the paternal lineage, because it is not (unfortunately). It is suggesting that when looking at a demographic slice that we may associate certain traits with identifiable lineages of ancient groups. The authors also assert that lactase persistent European populations are taller, on average, than those who are not.
Below is a snip I made from some of the material. You can see that the Hunter-Fisher societies were physically robust. This big frame ends abruptly with the Neolithic Lengyels and the Mesolithic Western Europeans (BTW, don't be tricked by the nonsensical age system). Essentially the Neolithic represents a big change in the physique of individuals, being both more gracile, but also more sickly, and with bad teeth.\\
This again changes with people who were likely lactase persistent, being the Corded and Beaker peoples in which the average height skyrockets. The authors continue to develop this reasoning with more recent data on Europeans in the last few centuries where economic data is well known.
There is an unrelated, but very relevant, study on the DNA analysis of bacteria taken from the mouths of ancient people showing the transition to complex carbohydrates, then to dairy, to sugar, etc. I'll post if I can find it again.
The Role of Nutrition and Genetics as Key Determinants of the Positive Height Trend.
P. Grasgruber J. Cacek T. Kalina M. Sebera, Economics and Human Biology, 2014
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570677X14000665
Abstract
The aim of this study was to identify the most important variables determining urrent differences in physical stature in Europe and some of its overseas offshoots such as Australia, New Zealand and USA. We collected data on the height of young men from 45 countries and compared them with long-term averages of food consumption from the FAOSTAT database, various development indicators compiled by the World Bank and the CIA World Factbook, and frequencies of several genetic markers. Our analysis demonstrates that the most important factor explaining current differences in stature among nations of European origin is the level of nutrition, especially the ratio between the intake of high-quality proteins from milk products, pork meat and fish, and low-quality proteins from wheat. Possible genetic factors such as the distribution of Y haplogroup IM170, combined frequencies of Y haplogroups I-M170 and R1b-U106, or the phenotypic distribution of lactose tolerance emerge as comparably important, but the available data are more limited. Moderately significant positive correlations were also found with GDP per capita, health expenditure and partly with the level of urbanization that influences male stature in Western Europe. In contrast, male height correlated inversely with children’s mortality and social inequality (Gini index). These results could inspire social and nutritional guidelines that would lead to the optimization of physical growth in children and maximization of the genetic potential, both at the individual and national level.
http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.ehb.2014.07.002
Getting Taller: Study on European Height (DNA & Dietary Changes)
This is a very cool paper. It richly compiles biometric data on average height of Europeans from the Mesolithic Age, through the Neolithic, Corded, Beaker, Medieval to the Modern.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6bV_tjpW5yI/U-mbqWUIhGI/AAAAAAAABJE/76TLdGIA1rc/s1600/male+height.PNG
The authors make some fairly reasonable assertions in my opinion. One being that tallness is associated with certain male haplogroups such as I-M170 and R-U106. Check out the tables in the back of the paper.
That is not at all to suggest that tallness is associated with the paternal lineage, because it is not (unfortunately). It is suggesting that when looking at a demographic slice that we may associate certain traits with identifiable lineages of ancient groups. The authors also assert that lactase persistent European populations are taller, on average, than those who are not.
Below is a snip I made from some of the material. You can see that the Hunter-Fisher societies were physically robust. This big frame ends abruptly with the Neolithic Lengyels and the Mesolithic Western Europeans (BTW, don't be tricked by the nonsensical age system). Essentially the Neolithic represents a big change in the physique of individuals, being both more gracile, but also more sickly, and with bad teeth.\\
This again changes with people who were likely lactase persistent, being the Corded and Beaker peoples in which the average height skyrockets. The authors continue to develop this reasoning with more recent data on Europeans in the last few centuries where economic data is well known.
There is an unrelated, but very relevant, study on the DNA analysis of bacteria taken from the mouths of ancient people showing the transition to complex carbohydrates, then to dairy, to sugar, etc. I'll post if I can find it again.
The Role of Nutrition and Genetics as Key Determinants of the Positive Height Trend.
P. Grasgruber J. Cacek T. Kalina M. Sebera, Economics and Human Biology, 2014
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570677X14000665
Abstract
The aim of this study was to identify the most important variables determining urrent differences in physical stature in Europe and some of its overseas offshoots such as Australia, New Zealand and USA. We collected data on the height of young men from 45 countries and compared them with long-term averages of food consumption from the FAOSTAT database, various development indicators compiled by the World Bank and the CIA World Factbook, and frequencies of several genetic markers. Our analysis demonstrates that the most important factor explaining current differences in stature among nations of European origin is the level of nutrition, especially the ratio between the intake of high-quality proteins from milk products, pork meat and fish, and low-quality proteins from wheat. Possible genetic factors such as the distribution of Y haplogroup IM170, combined frequencies of Y haplogroups I-M170 and R1b-U106, or the phenotypic distribution of lactose tolerance emerge as comparably important, but the available data are more limited. Moderately significant positive correlations were also found with GDP per capita, health expenditure and partly with the level of urbanization that influences male stature in Western Europe. In contrast, male height correlated inversely with children’s mortality and social inequality (Gini index). These results could inspire social and nutritional guidelines that would lead to the optimization of physical growth in children and maximization of the genetic potential, both at the individual and national level.
http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.ehb.2014.07.002