Harmful ramifications of secular growth

Abstract

For the last century or more, health practitioners have viewed increasing birth weight, rapid growth and taller height as desirable trends resulting from improvements in human nutrition and environmental conditions. Although we have made progress on many fronts, considerable evidence supports the view that we have gone from malnutrition due to lack of food to malnutrition due to excessive nutrition. The result has been an epidemic of chronic diseases and obesity. In contrast to progrowth supporters, biologists and other scientists have favored the well-established rule that within a species, smaller individuals tend to be healthier and longer-lived. Modern evidence, including biological parameters, now shows that modification of the affluent diet and smaller body size could substantially improve our health and longevity.