Scheffler Christiane, Hermanussen Michael
Department of Human Biology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.
Pediatrician, Altenhof, Germany.
Am J Hum Biol. 2022 May;34(5):e23693. doi: 10.1002/ajhb.23693. Epub 2021 Nov 11.
Human body height differs within a wide range and has conventionally been associated with genetic, nutritional, and environmental conditions. In this study, we try to broaden this perspective and add the evolutionary aspect of height differences.
We revisited height from archeological data (10 000-1000 BC), and historical growth studies (1877-1913). We analyzed height, weight, and skinfold thickness of 1666 Indonesian schoolchildren from six representative rural and urban elementary schools in Bali and West Timor with a stunting prevalence of up to 50%.
Stature in the Holocene prehistory of the Near East and Europe varied with maxima for women usually ranging below 160 cm, and maxima for men between 165 and 170 cm. Stature never rose above 170 cm. European and white US-American schoolchildren of the 19th and 20th century were generally short with average height ranging between -1.5 and -2.2 hSDS, yet in the absence of any evidence of chronic or recurrent undernutrition or frequent illness, poverty, or disadvantageous living conditions. The same is found in contemporary Indonesian schoolchildren.
Stunting is frequently observed not only in the poor, but also in affluent and well-nourished social strata last 10 000 years. Only in very recent history, and only in a few democratic, modern societies, stature has increased beyond the long-lasting historic height average. Viewed from an evolutionary perspective, and considering adaptive plasticity of and community effects on growth, competitive growth and strategic growth adjustments, stunting appears to be the natural condition of human height.
人体身高差异范围广泛，传统上与遗传、营养和环境条件相关。在本研究中，我们试图拓宽这一视角，并增加身高差异的进化方面。
我们重新审视了考古数据（公元前10000年至公元前1000年）和历史生长研究（1877年至1913年）中的身高情况。我们分析了来自巴厘岛和西帝汶六所具有代表性的城乡小学的1666名印度尼西亚学童的身高、体重和皮褶厚度，这些学童的发育迟缓患病率高达50%。
近东和欧洲全新世史前时期的身高各不相同，女性身高最大值通常低于160厘米，男性身高最大值在165至170厘米之间。身高从未超过170厘米。19世纪和20世纪的欧洲及美国白人学童普遍较矮，平均身高在-1.5至-2.2标准差分数之间，然而却没有任何慢性或复发性营养不良、频繁患病、贫困或不利生活条件的证据。当代印度尼西亚学童也有同样的情况。
在过去的一万年里，发育迟缓不仅在贫困人群中经常出现，在富裕且营养良好的社会阶层中也屡见不鲜。只有在最近的历史时期，且仅在少数民主、现代的社会中，身高才超过了长期以来的历史平均身高。从进化的角度来看，考虑到生长的适应性可塑性、社区对生长的影响、竞争性生长和策略性生长调整，发育迟缓似乎是人类身高的自然状态。
