30 years ago I took a tour of a coal mine,it had closed down abut 20 years before.
In the locker room a great number of boots Left in a heap by the miners lay.
Mostly size 6 few 7 none bigger.
Those miners measured about 4 inches less in hight than todays average .
Is it our food we eat these days, is it environment.
Our girls today, like always mature before boys, but then it was about 16 and in the boys case often later.
Today 12 13?
Others may see more but just in my life time we have changed quite a lot,why.

Is This Evolution?...is that trick question?:) bellies....what ever is going on in your mind:)

BLUE

I am aware of that post,if it was worth replying to I would.
In my lifetime, just one human,we have changed, average hight,foot size,maturity [some of us].
Life span, I am interested in opinions ,is it our better food, is it just evolution,is it both?

I think the changes are bought about by the mongrelization of the population. There wasn't much size in the old cornish miners.
I had a tour through an old jail, and the doorways were narrow and short.

Cornish miners came long before this mine lived and died.
They played no part surely in girls reaching maturity years before they once did.
I dislike the term mongalising.
Distasteful term, my ancestry is England Scotland Irish, and Welsh, that makes me a proud mongrel.
Given the nature of country towns,3 known as Patton Place near me, one defines confusion as fathers day in that fisherman's village, we can never know truly what mix may be in us.
I note the changes in my 65 and a bit life, think we evolve, not getting in to religion, but environment and increased protean in take is changing current generations faster than the norm.

Belly:

I always assumed that body size was largely determined by genes. However, it surely must be significantly influenced by environmental factors such as diet and exercise,as well as - geographic locations, and climatic conditions. Improved nutrition and health overall, must also play a major role - especially in developed areas.
The following website gives a good overview:

http://theevolutionofthehumanbody.blogspot.com/2010/10/height-weight-and-shape-of-human-body.html