Will humans on average be much taller in the future or will it remain the same as now?

[RedGuard]

considering the average height in developed countries is six foot, where as in 1700s average man was around 5'9, will humans in the future be much taller, or will the scale eventually stop as a global average is reached?

How tall theoretically can a man get? will we ever get past the 7 foot mark on average?

[Earl Dibbles Jr]

Due to technology, I feel our height will either stay the same or decrease. Your height is no longer relevant in your success/ability to pass on your genes. Couple this with people becoming more aware of over eating and food becoming more healthy.

[Condottiere 40K]

1. Better diet will increase the average human height.

2. Cosmetic reasons will increase the average height of those that can afford; besides the usual predictions of future genetic manipulation, there are girls right now in Asia who deliberately have their legs broken under clinical conditions so that they can increase their height.

[RedGuard]

1. Better diet will increase the average human height.

2. Cosmetic reasons will increase the average height of those that can afford; besides the usual predictions of future genetic manipulation, there are girls right now in Asia who deliberately have their legs broken under clinical conditions so that they can increase their height.

1. So how tall do you think men will be in a hundred years on average? 6.5? or will it slow down and increase less gradually as devloped countries get as healthy as possible?
2. Wtf that is crazy. knew about the round eye and permanent smile surgeries but that is even more insane

Due to technology, I feel our height will either stay the same or decrease. Your height is no longer relevant in your success/ability to pass on your genes. Couple this with people becoming more aware of over eating and food becoming more healthy.

we apparently have two contradictory opinions on this thread

[Condottiere 40K]

I seem to recall a study where taller people exude more authority, are more confident and tend to get better paid. My estimation would be that we'll top out around six feet seven inches for the guys.

[GarretJax]

I would think that nutrition alone cannot lead to people becoming much taller in the future. I'm not a scientist, but even if you maximized your diet for healthy growth you'll still be limited by other factors. I feel like I read that for a fully healthy human with a perfect diet 6'2 would be an average maximum height (I'll try to find that study). People taller then that should be statistically more unlikely on a bell curve. At some point your body couldn't handle infinite growth, to get much beyond 7'0 I think there would have to be a major increase in oxygen levels or some other climate craziness that led to bigger bodies.

[Manco]

The way I learned it, very superficially of course, is that we aren't growing intrinsically taller, we're just having better diets with loads more protein allowing us to near our genetic maximum.
To grow beyond that would require some sort of sexual or otherwise natural selection, which would take a lot more time than the height variances we see the last few centuries.

Height changes pretty damn fast due to circumstances btw. The Dutch went from fairly small people immediately after WWII to being among the largest for example.

[Himster]

Your height is no longer relevant in your success/ability to pass on your genes.

It is however relevant to sexual attractiveness and is a display of genetic health, also our improving diet increases our capacity for growth.
There is a limit on how tall we can get of course, given our bone structure and the earth's gravitational pull and the fact that we're bipedal.
This video summarizes it the best: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkzQxw16G9w

[knight of meh]

to get much beyond 7'0 I think there would have to be a major increase in oxygen levels or some other climate craziness that led to bigger bodies.

nah all you would need is more growth hormone in your development stage , or a reduction in sex hormones stopping bone growth the former is how the 8ft 11in Robert Wadlo came about, . Assuming you have a good diet of course.

to answer the op we might on average get taller but not by much heading north of 7 foot means there is so much blood in your veins that you can bust blood vessels and have ulcer trouble , infected ulcers killed most of these giants in the past . Going even further up like the aforementioned Robert Waldo anything above 8ft has serious heart trouble he had trouble with heart failure although an infected ulcer ultimately killed him , our muscle structure just can't cope with all that blood and the heart fails.

it would be extraordinary if a human survived for any length of time being above 9ft tall without serious mechanical help .

[GarretJax]

to answer the op we might on average get taller but not by much heading north of 7 foot means there is so much blood in your veins that you can bust blood vessels and have ulcer trouble , infected ulcers killed most of these giants in the past . Going even further up like the aforementioned Robert Waldo anything above 8ft has serious heart trouble he had trouble with heart failure although an infected ulcer ultimately killed him , our muscle structure just can't cope with all that blood and the heart fails.

Well, you don't need something like an increase of oxygen to be that big, there are always going to be statistical outliers because of things like overactive growth glands. But for an AVERAGE population size in excess of 7', I think you'd need a change in climate or other external factors which would compensate for the traditional problems that occur in large humans/animals.

[Slaytaninc]

Your height is no longer relevant in your success/ability to pass on your genes.

Of course it is. Tall people don't even need to have 1% more (or less) kids than short people to change the gene pool over time.

The problem is that height hasn't even been reduced down to a few genes. There are dozens of candidates throughout multiple chromosomes. If for example there were 10 genes that combined to regulate height and they are on 5 different chromosomes there are many combinations of possible alleles. Two people with 5 "tall" alleles each could end up passing on all of their "short alleles."

Compared to other animals humans are remarkable genetically similar, but the gene pool is not static.

[Phier]

Your height is no longer relevant in your success/ability to pass on your genes.

Cause women love the short dark and handsome.

[Magister Militum Flavius Aetius]

Compared to other animals humans are remarkable genetically similar

If I am correct the only animal that is even more similar is the cheetah.

[RedGuard]

I think natural selection does have a part in it, after all I have yet to hear a girl say she prefers short guys. For whatever reason, they have generally preferred men taller at least by a head. Don't know how long this trend has been occurring or if it always has but surely it is a factor in the general height increase over history (which there is skeptical data before a hundred or so years about but assuming the latest trend)

anyway so if female height has increased it is probably relative to males assuming this isn't just a white american cultural thing

[Slaytaninc]

If I am correct the only animal that is even more similar is the cheetah.

That would require digging through obscure statistics. Plenty of endangered mammals and other creatures that might be even worse off.

[RubiconDecision]

It's partially a function of calcium, magnesium, and potentiation by Vitamin D. That and the availability of protein versus the cost of these sources. As wealth increases, diets can become more diverse, but not necessarily healthier. Bone growth happens due to remodeling of the scaffold, so without weight bearing exercise, there's limitations on growth, as the body recognizes little need for expansion or increase in bone density. Without heavy labor or intentional exercise, we might have peaked as a whole.

[Phier]

It's partially a function of calcium, magnesium, and potentiation by Vitamin D. That and the availability of protein versus the cost of these sources. As wealth increases, diets can become more diverse, but not necessarily healthier. Bone growth happens due to remodeling of the scaffold, so without weight bearing exercise, there's limitations on growth, as the body recognizes little need for expansion or increase in bone density. Without heavy labor or intentional exercise, we might have peaked as a whole.

I thought that in the 80's, and now I'm short at 6' tall so don't be so sure yet.

[Mangalore]

I thought that in the 80's, and now I'm short at 6' tall so don't be so sure yet.

Most people beyond 2 meters suffer increasingly from health issues so it would appear the current average height in the west is around a healthy optimum.


Otherwise height was more a health indicator and thus the natural selection bit would be as part of verifying if someone was well fed and healthy since most poor fellas were scrawny and stunted.

Cosmetic approaches to reach ideal heights mean approaching the ideal average height, not an increased height. There might be some weird fashion trends in the future but overall the issue is not about getting as tall as possible but getting tall within the range of beauty standards.

[Col. Tartleton]

When the Dutch stop growing that'll probably be it for the species until we start modding for increased height.

[Euphoric]

There is some selection that favors shortness, however. Shorter individuals tend to live longer for a variety of reasons (less metabolism, less prone to accidents, there seems to be a genetic proclivity towards living longer among shorter people, etc), so in turn have more chances to reproduce, need less calories to survive in an emergency situation, and have a larger amount of time to gain wealth/resources to pass on to their offspring than do their taller peers. Many guys also prefer shorter, more petite women. And it's not like many people actively say they would never date a short girl/guy.

So it seems to me that genetically things favor the shorter individuals.