I saw that movie "Big Fish" and it that movie is a guy named Matthew McGrory who is about 7 feet tall. They made him look taller in the movie. But the way his body is carried...he has his head sorta tucked and to one side...and it got me thinking about this disease I had heard of that effects humans in middle age called Acromegaly. It causes abnormal growth..here's a link explaining...

http://www.umm.edu/endocrin/acromegaly.htm

Anyway...it is interesting to me that humans seem to have gotten larger over the years....if you go to some ghost towns and look at the doorways and stuff...the buildings seem very small compared to how we build buildings...even houses today. Is there any data out there concerning human height? Are we in fact growing larger?

Sosha,

Lots of data to support this!!!!
There is no question that we are much larger today than even the turn of the 20th century. One of my other pasttimes is Civil War reenacting and we have researched the average height and weight of the soldiers during the conflict. In the 1860's the average man was 5' 4" to 5' 6" tall and weighed about 150#. Men who were more than 6' tall were rare. The main contributing factors have been for increased size are nutrition and disease control.
We have been able to look at original clothing from the period of 1850 to 1890 at various musems and most of us are huge by comparison. This would also be true for women. Average women of the day would be wearing size 4-6 clothing based on todays sizes.

The data is pretty easy to find on the net. I'll see if I can dig up some links for you.

WIS

That's really cool info. you've got there about the civil war soldiers, Wisquatch! Yes, we have indeed gotten a lot bigger than our ancestors (except me--I'm only 5'2"--hah!). When I was in England looking at suits of armor from hundreds of years ago they looked like they were made for children! Someone with acromegaly back then would indeed have appeared like a true giant.

Cool Wisquatch! I look foward to whatever you can find. This fascinates me too!

I'm siding with Wisquatch on this one, also considering it was a featured topic on a radio talk show not too long ago, Better Nutrition seems to be the main suspect. My siblings and I suffered from hereditary gene shock growing up. My mom is the shortest one in her family at 5'2" and my dad was the tallest one in his family at 5'3". My uncles on my dad's side ranged from 4' 11" to 5'2" and on my mom's side from 6' 3" to 6' 11 1/2" My siblings and I range from 5'4" to 5'10".. Giants on my dad's side and shrimps on my mom's side.. LOL

I'm fascinated with this topic too. My husband is the tallest in his family at 6'2". His mom is only 5'4" and his dad is 5'9". They say he got his height from his mother's side but her dad was only 5'9" or 10". But now that I think about it, that would have been fairly tall for a man many years ago. My grandfather on my dad's side must have been a really tall man then, he was around 6 feet even. I'm real curious how tall our kids will be since I'm 5'11" and hubby's 6'2". I'm sure my son will be at least 6'3" if not taller. I just hope my daughter doesn't get much taller than me because I remember it wasn't that fun being an amazon (one of my many nicknames in high school). Although she'll make a great basketball or volleyball player!

This is interesting stuff! My Dad's family had some REALLY tall members. My grandfather was 6'6" and his brother (my great uncle) was 7' tall. Both my brothers are 6'4", but squatty me is 5'4". I guess I got that from my Mom who was 5' tall on her best day!

I'm also wondering about my son, Susan. He is 14 yrs. 8 months old and is already over 6' tall, his Dad is 5' 10". I'm glad that my son is tall, but don't want him to be burdened with being "too" tall, though there's not alot that can be done about it.

I wonder also about foot sizes. Even though my Dad was tall, and my brothers are both tall, they have small feet for their heights. Both are a size 11.
My son already wears a size 12! Does anyone else see a pattern in larger feet in kids these days? When I was growing up, kids just didn't have the big feet I'm seeing in the kids today. Hummmmm.

Whoa Jaylee...an uncle 7 feet tall. ....

Yeah I'm only 5'2.....but nobody in my family is very tall anyway. But I'll tell ya something..I think grocery stores are already catering to the tall folks...every time I go in the store there is some item I need that is wayyyyyyyyyyy the hell up at the very top of the dang shelf...why the heck do they make those shelves so high???

What the heck...do I have to learn to levitate now???

You know, it was really a sad situation for my uncle. I won't bore you with the stories, but my Dad told me that he had a very hard life caused by being so tall. This was in the 1930's and 1940's. My Dad said most people treated him like he was a freak. And just think, today he might have been paid millions of $$ to play basketball. How the world has changed.

JayleeD, what you said about the foot sizes is sure a concern of mine. My son wore a size 12 shoe when he was 12, size 13 at 13, 14 at 14, 15 at 15, and now he is 16 and can still wear a 15 in some shoes but has to wear a size 16 in others. I've told him that his feet better quit growing or I was going to start trimming his toes back. And the width of his shoes are EEEE (4E)!!!! Hell, he makes pretty good BF tracks just going barefooted.

I'm 6' 0" and he's already about 6' 2 or 3". But I've told him not to even begin to think that I can't whip his butt still. Old age and treachery can always overcome youth and vigor...

It's getting to be a real problem finding shoes for him that don't require a mortgage to pay for. Maybe I ought to get him to walk around in the mud and then cast his tracks and sell 'em on Ebay as "Genuine Alabama Bigfoot Tracks:

Hi guys,

Sorry that I haven't gotten back sooner. I'm in the middle of changing jobs so I haven't been on the forum for a few days. I should have everything done in a day or so and then I will have time to get those links. Just popped in to let you know what's up.

WIS

i know how a few of you feel im only 5 10 an got brther 6 ft plus my sister married a man in louisiana whos a giant of a man 6 110 an over 400 lbs she said hes smaller than his dad though and its not only with boys its seems girls are getting bigger quicker also my 14 yr old step daughter wears a mans size 9 shoe and is 5 9 now her friend is 6 ft and 15 yrs old for a girl what are they feeding these kids these days

Most of the suits of armour that are seen on display in european museums were specially made as 'display' armour, and never designed to be worn by humans.

Typically, they would be 2/3 the size of a full-size suit of armour - don't be fooled next time you visit a museum.

Actually, some groups of ancient humans were just as tall as todays. Take the Teutons, for example. The Teutons were pagan nomads who inhabited ancient Germany. The fossil evidence suggests the average male height being 5'9 -- no different than today.
I'm not as sure about this one, but I remember reading that prehistoric homo sapien men were over six foot; their height was an adaptation necessary to see over longer distances for incoming predators or food. I do remember hearing that but I very well could be wrong.