September 1, 2002
View Full PaperThe Ecology of Height: The Effect of Microbial Transmission on Human Height
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Abstract
The height that adult humans achieve results from a complex interplay between genetic endowment and environmental exposures during development. We hypothesize that exposure to microbes--both exogenous pathogens and endogenous biota--are critical environmental determinants of the expression of human height in a community. Both experimental studies and historical changes in height in relation to presumed microbial transmission support this hypothesis.