Please note that the study reported in the AP story is about averages, not about extremes. It was conducted by an economic historian, one John Komios, who as the article states is “an economic historian at the University of Munich who was born in Hungary, grew up in Chicago, and has spent the last quarter century compiling data on the heights of nations,” and co-author Benjamin E. Lauderdale of Princeton University.

Longevity in the Netherlands is higher than in the US. The AP story also said:

” Life expectancy in the Netherlands is 79.11 years; in Sweden it’s 80.63. America’s life expectancy of 78.00 years puts it in somewhat shorter company, just above Cyprus and a few notches below Bosnia-Herzegovina.”

The article also notes:

“Young adults in Japan and other prosperous Asian countries now stand nearly as tall as Americans do….

“In the Czech Republic, per capita income is barely half of what it is in the United States. Even so, Czechs are taller than Americans. So are Belgians, who collect 84 percent as much income as Americans.”

And BTW, Americans have shorter lifespans than Greeks:

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2007/01/happiness-health-and-inequality.html

As for the NBA – dig up the stats for Croation leagues, or better yet, just take a look at the Olympics. The argument doesnt hold.

***

The best way to question the statistics, is to ask whether an empirical corelation between nutrition and height has indeed been established. Intuitively, one would ask about Japan, with its rather good longetivity, but short median stature. The same can be said of Italy, or Spain. One would suppose these states equal or surpassing the nutrition of Greece or Turkey. Do they surpass their stature? Furthermore, the Dutch are definitely not the top in longetivity, etc.

I probably should have quoted the initial AP article at greater length. It disputes the commonly-held view that Hispanics are inherently short in stature (although it provides no sources):

“Like many human traits, an individual’s height is determined by a mix of genes and environment. Some experts put the contribution of genes at 40 percent, some at 70 percent, some even higher. But they all agree that aside from African pygmies and a few similar exceptions, most populations have about the same genetic potential for height.

“That leaves environment to determine the differences in height between populations around the world, specifically the environment children experience from the moment of conception through adolescence….”

The USA has a large Hispanic population, far larger than any of the European or Middle Eastern countries mentioned. This population has largely immigrated from Latin America where the demographic makeup is such that the vast majority of residents have non-European ancestry. It is well documented that the aboriginal peoples of Central and South America are shorter on average than most other ethnic groups throughout the world. Therefore, the US average height is skewed downward by its relatively large proportion of shorter than average Latino/aboriginal residents.

Incidentally, congratulations on an excellent blog. The posts are uniformly informative and well written.