The authors seem to think this increase in height is a good thing. Unfortunately much research says the opposite.

This study provides a lot of data on height in various  world populations. However, the authors ignored a huge amount of data on nutrition, height and longevity. For example the authors suggest that our longevity is related to our nutrition. This is contradicted by the World Cancer Research Fund Report (2007), which stated that industrialization and the Western diet promote greater height, weight and chronic disease. Nutrition expert Professor Popkin reported that the food system developed over the last 100 years was devastating to our health. Trowell reported that pre-Western populations were free of major Western chronic diseases until they became Westernized. Nazmi and Monteiro reported the same observation in the journal, Public Health Nutrition. Silventoinen also reported that the Western diet promotes greater height and coronary heart disease.

As far as taller people living longer, last year, news releases from Columbia University Medical Center and the University of Glasgow reported that shorter people have a longer life expectancy. Professor Bartke, Director of the SIU Aging and Longevity Research Laboratory, recently stated that considerable evidence exists that smaller humans tend to be healthier and longer lived. The International Encyclopedia of Public Health also reported that shorter people live longer. Other research has found that shorter, smaller people have lower mortalities or live longer and a few examples follow:

1. Shorter elderly Japanese men in Hawaii have lower mortality and greater longevity compared to taller elderly Japanese. (He, et al.)

2. A review of evidence from eight different types of studies showed that shorter, smaller people lived longer (Samaras, TT).

3. A study of men in a remote Sardinian village found shorter men lived longer (Salaris et al.)

4. A large study of US men and women found that shorter men had a lower all cause and CHD mortality (Shapiro et al.)

5. Based on about 18 million deaths, an examination of US ethnic mortality data found that the shortest ethnic group had the lowest mortality over the entire life cycle and the tallest the highest mortality; e.g., Asians had the lowest mortality and Blacks and Whites the highest. Latinos and Native Americans were in-between in both height and mortality (Samaras TT)

6. Okinawa has been studied extensively and has the highest percentage of centenarians. They also have exceptional life expectancy. The Okinawans are shorter than the mainland Japanese. Centenarians average about 5 feet (after adjustment for shrinkage with age0. (Chan et al.).

7. A study of thousands of retired West Point graduates found that taller graduates had a higher mortality (Mueller and Mazur)

8. A study of over 1 million Spanish males found that shorter males lived longer (Holzenberger et al.)

9. A study of deceased people in Ohio found shorter people lived longer (D. Miller).

While many mortality studies have found tall people have lower mortality, few track their subjects until death. The West Point study mentioned above did not find a trend until after 60 years of age. Waaler’s study didn’t find shorter men had a lower mortality until the age range of 70 to 85 years of age. This is to be expected since most deaths under 65 years of age are do to infections, accidents, etc.. Age related deaths become dominant after 65 years of age.

While the paper recognized that taller people have more cancer, it stated that taller people have less heart disease. This finding is an artifact because it is clear that early in 1900s, coronary heart disease was rare in the US and Europe, but we were also shorter by a few inches. Davenport also studied 1 million US WWI recruits and found tall men had more heart problems. Other studies have found taller people have higher heart disease mortality (Shapiro, Mori, Elsayed, Hameed, and Gupta). It is hard to believe that taller height is an advantage when studies have found that several short populations were entirely free of coronary heart disease and stroke; e.g., Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Kalahari bushmen, Congo pygmies and Kitavans. Height range: under 5 feet to 5 feet, 6 inches.) Of course, the Japanese have for many years had one of the lowest rates of cardiovascular mortality in the developed world. The Okinawans also have a lower mortality rate than the mainland and are shorter. Poulain also reported that the shortest people in Sardinia had the lowest mortality from heart disease.

Yes, our life expectancy and height in the developed world has increased substantially during industrialization. The reasons are improved sanitation, immunization programs, higher standard of living, and huge advances in medical care and science. If you compare the developed world to the non-developed world, the developed world is certainly taller and longer lived.  However, if you look within the developed world, life expectancy is usually highest in the shorter populations: Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, Andorra, San Marino, and Singapore.

Many biological factors change in undesirable ways when we get taller and increase in weight. A leading explanation is that taller bodies use up their cellular replication capacity over their life times due to the greater need to replace damaged cells; i.e.,taller bodies have more cells to wear out or get damaged by free radicals, radiation, toxins, etc. Maier et al. found that taller people had reduced ability to replace damaged cells at older ages. Smaller women also have a higher capacity for cell replacement compared to bigger men.

Anyone interested in health, nutrition and longevity should refer to:
www.humanbodysize.com  

This website provides a list of almost 50 articles, book chapters and books on the ramifications of increasing height on our health, longevity, environment, resources and survival as a race (Why smaller humans are in our future, Policy Innovations, Carnegie Council, 2014).