A global study of a sample of 65 million children and adolescents showed that poor nutrition can “cost” up to 20 cm in the height of children.
According to a study of more than 65 million participants published in the Lancet, which extrapolated the relationship of the value of school-age nutrition, it was found that poor nutrition can cost children up to 20 cm in height.
The above conclusion was reached by aggregating data of more than 2,000 studies between 1985 and 2019, for a population of more than 65 million children and adolescents aged 5 to 19 years.
According to the researchers, monitoring changes in height and weight of children worldwide and over time is essential to ascertain the quality of nutrition and the environment in which young people grow up and their importance as determinants of their development.
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In summary, for 2019 it was found that, on average, children and adolescents in northwestern and central Europe (eg the Netherlands, Montenegro) was the tallest in the world while the 19-year-olds with the shortest stature lived in South and Southeast Asia, Latin America and East Africa.
Other interesting facts that emerge from the study for the year 2019:
Τhe tallest 19-year-olds live in the Netherlands (1.83 m high) while the shortest in East Timor (1.60 m high)
The average 19-year-old in Laos is the same height as the average 13-year-old Dutchman (1.62 m)
19-year-old girls in Guatemala, Bangladesh, Nepal, and East Timor were about the same height as 11-year-old Dutch girls (about 1.52 m)
Regarding Greece, the average height for boys is a little lower than 1.80 m, while for girls it is 1.65 m.
The biggest improvement in height in the last 35 years has been recorded by children from China and South Korea, but not in sub-Saharan Africa, where the average height has remained the same since 1985.
