Americans: no longer the Giants of the world / Americane jiz nejsou obry sveta

When W.W.II was over Americans were still the tallest people in the world. In the 60’s, however, they started to fall behind with the Western and Northern Europe taking the lead. Even the Czechs are now taller than the Americans with an average American measuring 178 cm tall, where as an average Czech male is 180 cm tall. And who are the biggest giants in the world now? The winners are the Dutch with males averaging 183 cm. Does it really matter if one is taller? Some economists claim that taller people tend to be wealthier, healthier and also live longer. Some scientists go as far as saying that taller people are also smarter (surely not because of their “bigger brains” though! :)). The researchers further explain that since the taller people tend to be richer (what about the 3-meter tall Ethiopian runners????) they can also afford better education. The height of an individual depends on the genetic predispositions (40% – 70%) as well as the environmental factors. The environment itself can influence the height as much as 12.7 cm! So why is it that the USA, the wealthiest country in the world, is not the tallest state anymore? Well, the answer is still being worked on….

CZ: Po Druhe svetove valce byli Americane stale nejvyssimi lidimi sveta. V 60. letech ale zacinali “zaostavat” a vetsina zapadni a severni Evropy je predstihla. V dnesni dobe Americany (prumer je 178cm) ve vysce predhonili i Cesi, kde prumerny muz meri 1,80 cm. A kdo dnes v teto soutezi obru vede? Vitezi jsou Nizozemci, kteri meri v prumeru 1,83 metru. Jsou tedy vyssi lide ve vyhode nebo je to jedno, jak je kdo vysoky? Ekonomove tvrdi, ze vyssi lide jsou bohatsi ( a co ti 3-metrovi bezci z Etiopie???), zdravejsi a take ziji dele; nekteri vedci si dokonce i troufaji rici, ze vyssi lide jsou chytrejsi (coz ovsem neznamena, ze jsou chytrejsi, protoze se narodil s vetsim mozkem:) ). Je to pry diky tomu, ze vetsi lide jsou vetsinou financne lepe zabezpeceni a tudiz si mohou dovolit lepsi vzdelani. Vyska jednotlivcu je zavisla na smesi genovych dispozic (40% – 70%) a vlivu prostredi, ktere pry muze ovlivnit vysku o az 12,7cm.

Proc tedy Spojene Staty, zeme s nejvetsim ekonomickym rustem, tedy ve vysce dnes zaostavaji? Na odpovedi se stale jeste pracuje…

Source: http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/magazin/zajimavosti/index_view.php?id=262221