UK children shorter than EU children

[Popcorn121]

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jun/21/children-raised-under-uk-austerity-shorter-than-european-peers-study

I listened to James O’Brien on LBC today talking about the above, the conversation was all about UK poor diet and parents being blamed for not feeding their children well (due to austerity). But AIBU to think that height is mostly determined by genetics? Yet this isn’t mentioned, maybe people in the UK are more likely to be shorter due to genetics? I’m shorter and ex is on the shorter side, even though I feed my kids fruit and veg and healthy protein like salmon and chicken they are still going to be short. I know a lot of families like this.

Genetics but also a lot to do with nutrition. Netherlands, went from short to being tallest in the world as nutrition improved. Lots and lots of dairy products.

• given British dna overlaps considerably with French, German, scandi dna, really the difference in height may be down to nutrition... Or at least a significant factor. These things are controlled for in scientific studies...

The article refers to the differences between 1985 and now and uses Lithuania, Montenegro and Bulgaria as a comparison.

Surely it's more likely to be that children in once poorer countries are now healthier and therefore more likely to be bigger?

The UK average height has dropped significantly in the last 30 years. That's nothing to do with genetics.

though I wonder about the children of se asian immigrants who sometimes are very small.

nutrition makes a difference

I’m 5,2 and average height on the ward I work in as my colleagues are all from the Philippines.

Our family is a huge extended family. All grandparent age from a small area of Eastern Europe. One set moved to America, one uk, one Eastern Europe’s. All went on to have large families. 3/4 generations on I find it shocking when cousins meet. All the American teens/ young adults have broader faces, features and are taller. The uk ones are a lighter build and a little shorter, smaller frames. The ones from Eastern Europe still have the thinner faces, shorter limbs and are much shorter. It’s one family, but it’s striking. A stranger could enter a reunion and sort everyone into three groups.
The diets are so different. One set is highly processed, one is a nearly vegetarian diet with little dairy.

I wondered too, but Actually, south Asian children have more accelerated growth than British children. Also, % Asian immigrants in UK is 9.3% this year. And, again, ethnicity would have been a control variable in this kind of study.

Diet and general health is a huge influencer of height/size. I’m sure this is proven fact, isn’t it? I’ve certainly read it over the years in relation to historical height averages etc. Even just anecdotally, when I worked across different schools I could see a massive difference in the size of children in affluent areas and those in deprived areas. It’s like night and day.

The article isn't about height in the UK in general, it's about the change that has happened since 2010.

British genetics haven't changed in that time. It wouldn't surprise me at all if austerity and the associated increase in poverty has something to do with it. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

I suspect it's probably a two pronged issue: middle class people eschewing dairy, meat and fats; and poorer people feeding their children food which is lacking in nutrition. Two sides of the same coin.

I read dairy consumption had a lot to do with it as well. Wonder if theres been a drop in milk consumed.

There is an argument this occurred due to steroids being given to the dairy cows. Google it.

This is an extroadinary point you make here OP because it must rule out genetics, or at least partially.

Thats what I thought too.

I also think there is a link with the fashion of dairy being seen as a 'bad' food. Children being given semi skimmed and even skimmed milk for example

I drank loads of milk and ate loads of cheese as a child. I'm still only 5ft 1.5 tall.

I have a talk son and two short daughters.
dunno what that proves 😂

🤔

I remember in 2009 I thought youths were giants. All taller me than me and I was tall for my generation. It’s sad if the height has gone down since then.

It’s a mix of diet and genetics, South Asians born in the UK are generally taller than South Asians born in South Asia.

I do wonder if nutrition plays some part myself.
I have 4 DC, DC1 (girl) is adult and short, 4 inches shorter than me, bio father was tall too. Nutrition wise, she has always been a fussy eater, veg and fruits have been hard work to get down her since she was 9 months old. As an adult she lives mostly on processed crap.
DC2 and 3 (boys) are 15 and 13, both taller than me (I’m 5ft 8), DH is also tall so they were never going to be short but they are strapping lads at 5’11 and 5’10 respectively both going to be 6ft plus. They have both been wonderful eaters, anything and everything put in front of them.
DC4 (boy) 11 years old is average height currently for his age, don’t know where he’ll end up but I suspect not as tall as his brothers. He eats very poorly too, he does eat some fruit but not vegetables.

Same. 5ft 2.

Well UK people in general are not particularly genetically diverse.
When people emigrate here in the main they marry within their own culture and individual genetic diversity is linked to taller adult height on average.

Then we have the issue of consanguinity amongst some communities which will also confound the average.

I listened to JOB this morning, he failed to account for the very shit American diet and their greater average height.
He loves to bang on about diet, I remember him admonishing a working mum for using dolmio to make spag bol on one of his shows.