Is heredity a major cause for height deficiency?

There is not a lot of definite knowledge on the matter of heredity, however it is more than like that the size of one’s skeleton, which is the basis of stature, is to at least a degree inherited from our ancestors. This does not mean that your parents have to be tall in order for you to reach a good potential height. (Although short parents often do have short offspring) One may be the heir to some near or even remote tall or even short forebear. Quite often the inherited traits or characteristics concerned with height “skip over” a number of generations. As a result, though height is certainly transmissible to some extent, it is quite possible for short parents to have tall offspring. Accordingly, since the average person’s ancestry includes individuals of all heights & sizes, (and of course there is no way of telling which one’s influence will become dominant in a particular conception)it can readily be understood that one may almost grow to any size without invalidating heredity as a factor in stature.

Having short parent does not assure that you yourself will necessarily be short. But, the young person who has a desire to be become tall should always make it a point to do none of the things that may slow down growth, and on the other hand do all the things that favor the development of hereditary tendency he may possess to be tall.

Accordingly, one needs to feel doomed to definite shortness just because your immediate relatives are of short stature. Your ancestry may help or hinder your height, but the indications mentioned in this program are that you can act positively towards improving your current stature. In fact no less an authority than Dr. Franz Boas, the well-known American anthropologist, confirms his absolute convictions that heredity is not only the prime factor in a persons stature, but that such things as diet, behavior & living conditions play far more important roles. There are no solid evidences which confirm that height and heredity are interrelated, but you can certainly follow a number of effective steps that influences your height.