Anthropologists show how migrant communities physically grow taller when they leave hardship behind

[Judi Lynn]

Date:
March 8, 2018
Source:
Loughborough University
Summary:
A new study has shown that migrant populations moving to more affluent countries grow physically taller over relatively short periods of time.

. . .

Professor of Biological Anthropology at Loughborough University Barry Bogin found that the children of a Maya community, from Guatemala, who were known for their short stature, grew an average of 11cm in one generation after migrating to Florida and California in the 1990s.

The Maya's relatives back home, who did not migrate, showed no signs of the same rapid growth which suggested the physical development was influenced by the change of environment.

Prof Bogin said the phenomenon, known as strategic height adjustment, is found among groups of people who escape poor living conditions, oppression or conflict, and settle in more prosperous environments.

His research, published in Anthropologischer Anzeiger: Journal of Biological and Clinical Anthropology, considered numerous other examples of migration and height change over the past 140 years, including rural Bangladeshis who came to London in the 1970s.

More:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180308160710.htm