The biggest rumor of this century is that the average Japanese person is taller than Chinese. If you look at history, you will find that Chinese have not always been very short, and more than a hundred years ago, the height gap between us and white people was not very obvious.
Once the height gap was not large
To know how our heights have changed, start with time, from the birth of human beings. Human growth is an inevitable trend, what role do genes and nutrition play in this process? How is the height of the younger generation rising? How should we ensure that future teenagers grow taller? Don't worry, let's do it one by one.
Growing tall is an inevitable situation
Africa unearthed a young girl, who is our "Grandma Lucy" who lived more than 3 million years ago. "Grandma Lucy" is australopithecus, our "ancestor", only about 1 meter tall, and other ancient apes unearthed at about the same time as it are also in this range.
Grandma Lucy
Looking at the current human beings, normal people can be much taller than "Grandma Lucy", which is an inevitable trend in biological evolution - the size of the body has become larger, especially at the top of the food chain, more obvious. Humans are creatures that walk upright on their legs, so their size is revealed in their height. The average height of ancient apes in the "Lucy Grandma" period was only about 1-1.2 meters, and by the late Homo sapiens 100,000 years ago, the average height of humans had reached 1.4-1.6 meters.
Human height has evolved to grow
Therefore, in the normal direction of evolution, as long as there is no accident, no matter what ethnic group or race, its height will become higher and higher. Many people have the misconception that caucasians will be taller than yellows. Fundamentally, everyone is Homo sapiens, the genetic gap is only 0.1%, the height gap is not very large, and white people are not much ahead of yellow people at the beginning, height is not completely determined by genes, another very important reason is nutrition.
Nutrition is the key to growing tall
Genes and nutrition
First of all, let's answer this question, must the white race be taller than the yellow race? The answer is no, because caucasians are also divided into many types, and the kind of blonde-haired and blue-eyed Caucasians we have in our minds is only one of them, and there are some white people whose hair and eye color are no different from those of yellows, and even white people with dark skin.
Caucasians, also known as Europa people, are geographically divided into Baltic and Mediterranean types, and these two categories can continue to be refined, which leads to a large geographical span of Caucasians, and different types also show different physical characteristics. Among them, the tallest is the Nordic Caucasian, and the height decreases with the decrease of latitude. The high castes in India are also Caucasians, and their average height is completely inferior to that of white people in Europe.
Europa people
And according to the height survey report of 1900, the average height of white people in Europe has not yet exceeded 1.70 meters, and the average height of China at that time was also about 1.65 meters, which shows that white people are taller than yellow people, which was not established more than 100 years ago. The rise of their height is inseparable from the subsequent industrialization, and even more inseparable from their plunder. As the world's first industrialized countries, European countries achieved the earliest supply of meat, eggs and milk.
Meat, eggs and milk are mainly used to supplement nutrition
This brings us to the important role that nutrition plays in the process of growing taller. Many people assume that Caucasians carry genes that grow taller, and this idea is not entirely true. In fact, everyone is Homo sapiens, and the difference in the ability of genes to play in height is limited. Put it this way, genes can only determine a person's future height range, and the final decision is the nutrients ingested later. Some parents are not tall, but their children are not short, the reason may be that parents can grow tall, but the nutrition is not enough.
Genes don't completely determine height
Industrialization has accelerated food production in these countries, making it easier for their young children to eat protein-rich foods. At the same time, China was basically still eating grains, which were more about providing energy than nutrition, and at this point, China began to fall behind. That is to say, before industrialization, the height difference between yellow and white people was not obvious, it can be said that the gap determined by genes is not large, and being thrown away later can only show that we are not eating well.
cereals
Therefore, as long as Chinese eat better, it is completely possible to recover this gap, and sure enough, after the mainland achieves industrialization, the height of teenagers has ushered in a qualitative breakthrough!
Rise of height
In 2019, a new round of height census reports showed that after The 00 generation in China, the average height of boys is 175.7 cm, and the average height of girls is 163.5 cm, which is far more than that of South Korea and Japan, which are also East Asians. It even surpasses some European countries, such as Portugal and Italy, which are located near the Mediterranean Sea.
Rise of the 00s
In this situation, mainly due to the adequacy of the nutritional supply, many families are no longer the original porridge and pickles, but a cup of milk in the morning and a cup of milk in the evening. In the supply of meat products, it is also a farewell to the dilemma of eating pork in the New Year, and you can eat braised pork all at once. Not to mention eggs, which were once the only way to be eaten when a child is born are now the most common food. With this blessing, Chinese children began to thrive.
Egg milk is the most prevalent nutrient
Since China's industrialization, the average height of Chinese has increased at a rate of 0.1 to 0.2 centimeters per year, and the rumored average height of Japanese people exceeds that of China is only a short-lived situation that has occurred after Japan's industrialization. Japan's industrialization time was earlier than China's, and they also ate meat, eggs and milk in advance, so it is not that the Japanese have grown taller than Chinese, but they have advanced the time of growth. When Chinese also began to industrialize, this gap will soon be chased back.
Industrialization is a turning point in height
Although the current children eat well, have sufficient nutrition, and grow taller, many people have vague worries, the height of our children will not be urged out, right?
How to ensure the healthy growth of future adolescents?
Children are the future of the nation, the hope of the country, and the youth is strong. We are pleased to see that Chinese teenagers are getting older and taller, but we also see that they are under increasing pressure. Many children are taller, but correspondingly, their physique has not become much better, and many overweight people have appeared.
Overweight people
According to the research report, the development age of adolescents in the mainland is now 2 years earlier than that of 40 years ago, which is what we often call puberty. Many parents believe that this is related to the use of hormones in the industrialization of food. Now the white feather chickens in the chicken farm are out of the pen in 40-60 days, and the pig farm is a batch of pigs a year, and the lactation period of the cows is getting longer and longer. Although children develop earlier, they do not necessarily have a corresponding physical fitness.
Animals are fed hormones
Contrary to the height growth of mainland children, the physique of mainland teenagers has shown a downward trend for 20 consecutive years, and many children exercise for less than 1 hour a day, while consuming a large amount of food, which has led to an increase in the obesity rate among children. According to the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the obesity rate among adolescents aged 6 to 17 on the mainland exceeds 20%.
Obesity rates among adolescents have increased
In addition, sitting for a long time every day, many children have osteoporosis and other diseases. All of this makes us worry that the child's body will not be able to afford to grow in height. It is also for this reason that some people call for no food industrialization and a return to green and organic. It can only be said that from thrift to luxury, from luxury to thrift, food industrialization ensures the cycle of food supply, can do every day there is fresh food to eat, its purpose is to make everyone full, intake of sufficient nutrition.
Food industrialization
These problems are not the faults of industrialization itself, but the people behind them. It is because of the interests of people that the current situation has emerged.
Therefore, the complete abolition of food industrialization is not ideal, rather, strengthening market supervision, rational arrangement of children's work and rest time and carrying out exercises can solve the problem. It's not just a food issue, it's a family, a school, and a society. We are happy to see that Chinese children are taller than the next generation, and we want to see more than just height, but also more.