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Secular growth and its harmful ramifications.

T T Samaras1, L H Storms

  • 1Reventropy Associates, San Diego, California 92124, USA. SamarasTT@AOL.com

Medical Hypotheses
|January 29, 2002
PubMed
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Global populations are growing taller and heavier, increasing resource consumption and pollution. This trend poses significant environmental and health risks, potentially impacting longevity and survival.

Area of Science:

  • Human biology
  • Environmental science
  • Ecology

Background:

  • Secular growth trends show increasing average height and weight globally over the past 150 years.
  • Greater stature is often admired, with ideal Western male height around 6ft 2in (188cm).
  • Populations in Europe, USA, Japan, and China have experienced significant height increases.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To analyze the environmental, health, and survival implications of increasing human height and body weight.
  • To present quantitative data on resource use, pollution, and economic costs associated with larger body size.
  • To explore the relationship between body size, longevity, and the potential for extinction.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of secular growth data from various global populations.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Application of scaling laws to demonstrate non-linear impacts of stature on consumption and costs.
  • Review of paleontological data on body size and extinction risk.
  • Examination of studies linking height to longevity and caloric restriction diets.

    • Main Results:

    • Increasing population height and weight lead to non-linear increases in resource consumption, pollution, energy use, and fiscal costs.
    • Larger body size is associated with a reduction in longevity, with studies indicating a loss of 0.47 years per cm increase in height.
    • Paleontological evidence suggests larger body size correlates with increased extinction risk.

    Conclusions:

    • The trend of increasing human stature and body weight presents a significant threat to environmental sustainability, public health, and long-term survival.
    • Dietary interventions to moderate growth in youth and prevent chronic diseases are recommended.
    • Understanding scaling laws is crucial for predicting the ecological and economic consequences of human population changes.