GIANT study finds rare, but influential, genetic changes related to height

Broad Institute: In the largest, deepest search to date, the international Genetic Investigation of Anthropometric Traits (GIANT) Consortium has uncovered 83 new DNA changes that affect human height. These changes are uncommon or rare, but they have potent effects, with some of them adjusting height by more than 2 cm (almost 8/10 of an inch). The 700,000-plus-person study also found several genes pointing to previously unknown biological pathways involved in skeletal growth. Findings were published online by Nature on February 1.

The Curious Link Between Family Size and Height

Columbia: Sons born to large families were nearly an inch shorter than those from small families, according to a study of Dutch military records

If you find yourself staying in an old bed and breakfast in Holland, you may have to duck your head when walking through the door and sleep with your feet hanging over the end of the bed. This is because over the past 150 years, the average height of Dutch men has increased from about 5-foot-4 to over 6 feet, and they are now among the tallest people in the world.

Is natural selection making Dutch people the tallest in the world?

Royal Society: Dutch people are the tallest on Earth. A study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B suggests that their height could be the result of natural selection favouring a towering stature. Dutch people haven’t always been the tallest in the world. In fact in the mid-18th century Dutch military men were on average 165 cm tall; shorter than their European neighbours and men in the US. But over the last 150 years the height of Dutch men has shot up by 20 cm, overtaking that of Americans who have only grown by 6cm over the same time.

Infants’ environments play key role in their heights as adults

Technion. Israel: If you have ever wondered why you’re not a little taller, it turns out it’s not all about genetics. In findings published in the Journal of Pediatrics (January 2015), an Israeli research team shows that the environment in which one lives from the womb to about age one largely determines an adult’s height. The pioneering study was conducted by researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Tel Aviv University and Bnai Zion Hospital, in collaboration with Regional Health Offices in Haifa and Tel Aviv.