From the ArcaMax Publishing, Health & Fitness Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/healthtips/s-568925-893847
BONN, Germany (UPI) -- Children in Germany are taller than they were
30 years ago, but the height increase observed during the last century
has become slower, researchers said.
The study, published in Deutsches Arzteblatt International, found the
rate of growth during childhood in Germany has increased, but the
trend is less marked after puberty.
Bettina Gohlke and Joachim Woelfle of the University of Bonn said that
7- to 10-year-olds were 1 cm to 1.5 cm taller -- about three-quarters
of an inch -- than in the 1970s, whereas length at birth only slightly
increased between 1984 and 1997, by 0.2 cm.
The researchers also found that there has been little change in
physical maturation. Therefore, the age of a young women's first
menstruation has remained constant at about 13 years since the early
1960s.
The correlation between growth and socioeconomic status has been well
established. For this reason, body growth is accepted as an important
indicator of the socioeconomic conditions of a society.
However, the biological mechanism through which this acts is still
unknown.