among the Dutch, the tallest people in the world, between 1858 and 2009 the height of boys increased from 163 cm to 183.8 cm, which is an average increase of 21 cm, or 8.27 inches.44 This high level of stature variability is largely because height does not carry a high heritability in humans, meaning that it is not completely dictated by our genes. Rather, the average height of individuals at any given time, both within and among populations, is primarily the result of secular trends influenced by diet, health, climate, occupation, income, education, and numerous other cultural and
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