人類 誌 J.Anthrop.Soc.Nippon79(3):259-286 (1971)
Geographic Distribution of Human Stature
and Environmental Factors-An Ecologic Study
Eiji TAKAHASHI
Department of Hygiene,
Tohoku University School of Medicine
Abstract Stature of Asian peoples in 6 different regions was studied based on the data in MARTIN-SALLER's textbook of anthropology. Peoples are found
taller in inland Asia in the middle latitude and in Northwest India, where the climate is rather dry and the land is mostly a desert, steppe or cool highland
on which most people lead a nomadic or settled pastoral life. Rice cultivating
peoples in Southeast Asia are relatively short. In East Africa, nomadic or pastoral tribes are taller than plant cultivators and collecting and hunting tribes.
Correlation coefficients of nations' stature with national average food supplies in 16 European countries are found significant positive with milk and milk
products as well as with potatoes and other starchy roots, sugar and syrups, etc. Geographic distribution of stature in France and Spain seems to be related to geology. Geology seemed to effect geographic distribution of stature through
drinking water.
INTRODUCTION
In continuous populations of large land
areas of the Northern Hemisphere, includ-
ing China and Europe, there is a gradient
from larger mean stature in the north to
smaller in the south, as LASKER (1969)
stated. Such inclination of stature dis-
tribution might be genetically interpreted
on one side, but it should be considered
that subjects of measurement are not
genotypes but phenotypes and environ-
mental factors are usually different by
race.
In the present paper, at first, geographic
distribution of stature of Asian peoples
is analyzed in reference to regional diffe-
rences, according to the data in MARTIN-
SALLER's textbook of anthropology. Then,
the stature of East African tribes is
compared in reference to their subsistence
economy. In the last chapter,stature of
16 European countries is discussed in
correlation with national food supplies
Relation of statured is tribution with
geology and mineral content of river
water is considered within France and
Spain.
1.GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION
OF STATURE IN ASIA
In Asia there are many peoples of
260 E. TAKAHASHI
Fig. 1, Global distribution of human stature (after MARTIN-SALLER, 1959) ,
different origins. However, the author
tried to examine the relation between
adult stature and environmental factors
without preconception of genetical diffe-
rence.
The global distribution of human sta-
ture is shown in the ma pof STRUCK (Fig.
1), in MARTIN-SALLER's Lehrbuch der An-
thropologie. Observing the map, one may
notice that in Asia stature distribution
seems to make zonal arrange-ment from
north to south. In the Arctic Zone the
native inhabitants seem to be shorter
(1.53-1.57m or 1.48-1.52m), in the sub-arctic a little taller than the former
(1.58-1.62m), and still taller peoples
distribute in the region about 50*N lati-
tude and below, and the areas of the
tallest peoples spot one in Mongolia and
the other in Central Asia from northern
India to the Caspian Sea. The wide band
of the stature distribution of the taller
peoples ranges from Manchuria to Central
China in the east end, extending to the
western borderline of Asia. In the south-
eastern part of the continent and the
islands, the stature is rather short (1 .58-
1.62m), and in many spots much shorter
stature (1.53-1.57m) is found.
From the table of adult stature of
various groups of peoples of the world in
MARTIN-SALLER's anthropological text-
book, data of Asian peoples are picked up
and rearranged in some groups by region.
Although most data lack in the number
of examinees, the standard deviation of
mean stature and the year of survey, the
data is used for this study, because no
other appropriate data was found.
1. Stature of peoples in India and the
neighborhood
At first, geographic distribution of
Geographic Distribution of Stature and Environmental Factors 261
stature in India and the neighborhood
is examined, as there is a variety of
stature. It is well-known among anth-
ropologists that in India there is a grad-
ient of stature distribution from north-
west to east and south, as BUCHI (1968)
recently indicated.
Table 1 shows data of stature in India
and the neighborhood from MARTIN-
SALLER's textbook. Although brahman
and rajput mean higher caste in India,
inhabitants in Rajasthan, Punjab, Kash-
mir and Balchistan are generally taller
than peoples in other regions. The reason
why these peoples are taller than the
others in India, should be considered from
not only genetical but also environmental
viewpoint.
Table 2 shows the values of climate
elements in various regions of India and
the neighboring countries. As is seen in
the data of humidity and precipitation,
the climate of West India and Pakistan
is dry compared to that of East India,
Burma, South India and Ceylon. In these
hot, rainy and humid regions, rice is
cultivated as staple food to support dense
population. But in dry area such as West India peoples can not yield much agricul-
tural products and they subsist by cattle
breeding. There seems to be many nomads
living near the border of Afghanistan,
Pakistan and Iran.
While in the eastern and southern India,
Burma and Ceylon peoples take much rice
as staple food, in the northwestern regions
peoples take much more dairy food. In the study in Japan the author (TAKAHASHI,
1966) found that the growth of school boys
and girls mainly related to the consump-
tion of milk products rather than that of
rice and other foods.
Jungle tribes such as Bhil, Kadir and
Panvan in the South India as well as
Vedda mostly subsist by hunting and
collecting and are shorter in stature.
Probably their nutrition is not in satis-
factory condition.
2. Stature of Asian peoples in the high
latitudes
In the high latitudes of Asia there
inhabit many peoples who seem to belong
to Palaeoasiatics, Ural-Altaics and Indo-
Europeans as shown in Table 3. The
arctic and subarctic peoples such as
Eskimo, Chukchi, Kamchadal, Yukaghir,
Yakut and Samoyed, mostly subsisting by
hunting in winter and fishing in summer,
have middle stature of 155-164cm. They
mostly keep dogs or reindeer for traffic
and transport in winter, but breed no
cattle, except Yakut which breed horses
for labor, meat and milk. In the southern
part below 60*N latitude, peoples, settled
or seminomadic, subsist by farming and
cattle-breeding : Buryat in Zabaikal
district, Kalmuck, Tartar, Bashkir and
Perniak in the western part of Siberia.
Almost all peoples in these regions of the
high latitudes have middle stature of
155-164cm.
3. Stature of peoples in Far East
In Table 4, Oroke is a tribe of Tungus
inhabiting Sakhalin Island. Neither
Oroke nor Aino cultivated land but they
hunted and fished in Sakhalin and Hok-
kaido. Among the Japanese there are
regional differences of mean stature. The
262 E. TAKAHASHI
Table 1, Stature of peoples in India and the neighborhood.
Table 2. Regional climate elements in India and the circumference.
Geographic Distribution of Stature and Environmental Factors 263
Table 3, Stature of Asian peoples in the
high latitudes (male).
Table 4. Stature of East-Asian peoples
(male).
Oroke : a Tungus people of Sakhalin Island related
to the Orochi of Amur river mouth region.
author (1966) reported that in Japan the
stature of secondary school pupils in 1960
was larger in prefectures of central re-
gions and smaller in prefectures of peri-
pheral regions. He found corre-
lationship of secondary school
pupils with economic level of
prefectural inhabitants and with
expenditure for food. The author
(1967) also found that the young
men of conscription age from
1928 through 1936 were the tallest
in prefectures of Kinki region
including Kyoto, Osaka and
Kobe. Kinan-Japanese in Table
4, measured by NAKAYAMA in
1937, correspond to people in that
region. Japanese stature is fairly
rapidly increasing especially
after world War II, though the
records in Table 4 are all those
of prewar days. Mean stature
of the Korean were usually
greater than that of the Japanese.
4. Island peoples of Southeast
Asia
Among island inhabitants of
Southeast Asia some groups of
peoples who belong to negroid of
small stature are known as
negrito, for instance, Aeta and
the Andamanese (Table 5). Aeta
inhabit Zambales mountains in
Luzon, the Philippines. Other
tribes in the Philippines, such as
Mangyan and Igorot are also
smaller. In Celebes, Indonesian
peoples such as Minahasa and Bugi are a little taller than
Toala, Veddoid people of the interior of
south-western Celebes.
No remarkable difference of stature is
found between proto-Malay such as Teng-
264 E. TAKAHASHI
Table 5. Stature of island peoples of Southeast Asia (male).
ger (or Tenggara) and deutero-Malay such as Javanese (or Djavanese) in Java and
Sundanese (or Soendanese) in Lesser
Sunda Islands. Indonesian people in
Sumatra such as Minankabau and Batak
have middle height. It seems necessary
to reinvestigate the existence of such tall
Malay as KLEIWEG DE ZWAAN described
to central Sumatra.
During World War II, Tukuda anthro-
pologically measured various kinds of
people in Java. As is seen in Table 6,
some kinds of deutero- and proto-Malay
inhabit in Java and Madura. While there
is little difference of height is observed
among manual laborers of these races, a
considerable difference is found between
different social classes of the same race.
Educated people are clearly taller than
manual laborers. Army volunteers are
Geographic Distribution of Stature and Environmental Factors 265
Table 6. Stature of Indonesian males in Java (TUKUDA, 1968)
Table 7, Male stature of Indonesian and foreigners in Java during the World War
II (TUKUDA, 1968).
taller than manual laborers, but it may
come from the fact that army volunteers
are younger than laborers; that the
younger generation is taller than the older
may also be true in Java. Students are
the tallest, probably because of their
young age and their socially and econo-
mically higher position.
266 E. TAKAHASHI
In Table 7 TUKUDA compared stature of
the Indonesian with that of other races
in Java. Differences between stature of
the Indonesian and the Japanese, Chinese,
Arabian and Indian are not so great, but
Formosan army personnel, Indo-Eurasian
civilian and Korean army personnel are
distinctly taller.
In Table 5 Mestizoes in Kisar are a
little taller than Kisarese, and also in
Table 7 Indo-Eurasian is taller than
other Indonesian. As to the reason of
those differences one might consider not
only genetical but also environmental
factors. If one of the parents is of Euro-
pean origin, probably he may bring Euro-
pean pattern of food such as milk, butter
and cheese into their family life.
5. Peoples in continental Southeast Asia
It is well known that the northern
Chinese are taller than the southern. In
Table 8, Chinese stature of 166.0cm by
Wagenseil may be of the northern. Lobo
is a Tibeto-Burman people of the high
plateaus and mountains of southwest
Szechuan and northern Yunnan, and they
have tall stature. They have small areas
of field to plant buckwheat or other
gramineous and raise some domestic
animals.
Most of southern Chinese, Burmese,
Tonkinese, Annamese, Cochin-Chinese and
Siamese are rice-cultivating farmers.
Miao inhabiting southwestern China, the
northern part of Annam, Laos and Thail-
and, and Moi inhabiting the mountain
uplands of Annam and Cambodia, subsist
by primitive agriculture. Semang and
Senoi of Malayan mountains mainly
subsist by hunting and collecting. All
those native mountain peoples have
shorter stature than the agricultural
peoples in open fields.
6. Inland Asian peoples in the middle
latitudes
Most of the inland Asian peoples in the
middle latitudes are more than 165.0cm
tall as shown in Table 9. Most of them
inhabit steppes, deserts or waste land of
high mountains or plateaus over about
2, 000m, where plant cultivation is not
suitable: Gobi desert in Mongolia ; Ordos,
Alashan steppe and Takola Makan desert
in the northern and northwestern China ;
highland steppe in Tibet and Chinghai ;
Kyzyl and Kara desert in Central Asia ;
Thar desert in northwestern India ; Kavir
desert and many steppes in Iran, Afgha-
nistan and Baluchistan. Inhabitants
subsist by nomadic or settled domestic
animal breeding. They depend much on
dairy food in their diet. Although living
in the midst of desert, most peoples in
Uzbeck and Kirghiz, who have a little
shorter stature than nomadic people,
engage in plant cultivation by irrigation
from the Am and Sil river. For Armenian
four different values of stature are read
in Table 9. Although lacking in data,
each value should be considered in relation
with subsistence economy of the examined
population.
7. Regional stature distribution of
Asian peoples
When recorded mean stature of Asian
peoples is divided into 4 classes, A : below
155.0cm, B: 155.0-164.9cm, C : 165.0-174.9
cm, D : above 174.9cm, all Arctic, Sub-
Geographic Distribution of Stature and Environmental Factors 267
Table 8. Stature of peoples in continental Southeast-Asia (male).
Table 9, Stature of inland Asian peoples in the middle latitude (male).
Osset : an Aryan people of central Caucasus who are descendants possibly of immigrants
from Persia.
268 E. TAKAHASHI
Table 10. Regional stature distribution of Asian peoples in number of measurement
records.
Notice: In some cases records contain the same people twice or more by different authors.
Table 11, National food supplies per caput per day in certain Asian countries (in
Calories, FAO Production Yearbook, 1964).
1) Potatoes and other starchy roots, 2) Fruit and vegetables, 3) Including butter,
4) Excluding butter.
arctic and East Asian peoples belong to
class B (Table 10). Southeast island
peoples belong to classes A and B with only one exception that belongs to class
D. Continental Southeast Asian peoples,
and Indian and the neighbors range from
class A, B to C. Most of inland Asian
peoples in the middle latitudes belong to
class C. It is noticeable that the taller
peoples live in dry inland region of step-
pes and deserts, and Southeast Asian
peoples living in rainy coastal and island
area are shorter.
These regional distribution of stature
of Asian peoples seems to be related to
the climate and consequently to the mode
of subsistence economy. Southeast Asia,
so-called monsoon area, has much rain in
summer season, and the climate is suitable
for rice planting. Rice is an efficient plant
to yield higher calories per unit area, and
highly dense populations in Southeast
Asian countries are mainly sustained by
rice plantation. However, rice has a
defect as staple food, lacking minerals
such as calcium and vitamins especially
when one takes most calories from rice.
Moreover, most Southeast Asian peoples
Geographic Distribution of Stature and Environmental Factors 269
Table 12. Pattern of subsistence economy and stature of natives in East Africa (male),
1) Cited from MARTIN-SALLER, 1956. 2) In original literatures stature was measured in
inches for each five or ten year age groups. 3) Original data accompanied standard
deviation.
take less dairy food compared to inland
Asian people in the middle latitudes.
In Table 11, national food supplies per
caput per day in certain Asian countries,
calculated from national food balance
sheets prepared by governments in col-
laboration with Food and Agricultural
Organizatoin (FAO), are given in kilo
calories from FAO's Production Yearbook
(1964). Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines
and Ceylon are the countries of the similar
type in food supply, and India, Pakistan
and Turkey are of another type, though
India has so vast a territory as to include
the both types. Nations of the latter
countries take more milk but less fish
than the former. The Turkish takes ten
times more milk than the Japanese.
Contrasting to the mean stature of Japa-
nese ranging 157.7-164. 8cm in Table 4,
that of Anatolian Turkey is 167.2cm in
Table 9. Also stature of Armenian, Kurd
and Osset are mostly over 165cm.
II. PATTERN OF SUBSISTENCE ECONOMY AND STATURE OF
EAST AFRICAN TRIBES
Table 12 shows patterns of subsistence
economy and stature of East African
tribes. Masai is a pastral and sometimes
nomadic people in Kenya, in the east of
Lake Victoria. Kikuyu is a Bantu-speak-
ing negroid people of Kenya, and the rural
Kikuyu are settled agriculturalists. Ac-
cording to WILLIAMS (1969), the younger
Kikuyu men are variously employed in
paid occupations from sedentary to inter-
mittent heavy manual work ; the majority
of women hand-cultivate land outside the
village. The staple food of the Kikuyu
is cereal, and their diet consists mainly
of maize, including potatoes, beans and
peas.
According to SHAPER et al. (1969) the
Samburu, Rendille and Turkana are tribes
of the northern frontier province of Kenya
and all nomadic pastoralists, but each is
270 E. TAKAHASHI
to some extent from different ethnic stock
and has certain ecological factors which
distinguish it from the others. All three
groups have sheep and goats but the
Samburu are preeminently cattle-owners,
the Rendille camel-owners and the Tur-
kana possess camels and cattle and engage
in some agriculture. The northern half
of Kenya consists mainly of arid semi-
desert country with occasional plateaux
or mountains which have relatively good
grassland. The annual rainfall ranges 250-500mm although there is considerable
variation from place to place. Maximum
day temperature in Samburu areas is 18*-
27* and in the Rendille and Turkana
districts it approaches 30*. The humi-
dity is low everywhere, probably about 60
percent. Cattle and camels are kept for
milk and are only killed with great reluc-
tance when they are dying from disease
or old age or when ceremonies or scarcity
of meat demand their sacrifice.
As is seen in Table 12, stature is the
tallest for Masai and Samburu, nomads,
next for Rendille and Turkana, semi-
nomadic, Kikuyu, the cultivator is the
shortest.
Since 1962 Kyoto University Africa
Scientific Expedition has anthropological-
ly studied on 4 tribes living near Lake
Eyasi, which is between Lake Victoria
and the Indian Ocean, in Tanzania. The
result of sociologic studies was published
in Japanese (1968). Stature of the natives
shown in Table 12 is unpublished data of
IKEDA and HAYAMA who take charge of
the studies in the division of physical
anthropology.
Among 4 tribes in this area, Datoga is
a pastral and nomadic people and a rival
of Masai in Kenya. They breed cattles,
donkeys, goats and sheep, and their diet
consists of milk and meat, though these
30 years in touch with agricultural tribes
they gradually have become to take maize
as a staple food. Recently, hunting of
wild animals is prohibited by the govern-
ment, and agriculture is now getting
popularized among Datoga, also. Nowa-
days, most Datogas have a farm, though
the area is not over one acre and grow
maize for domestic consumption.
Hadzapi is a hunting and collecting
tribe and is the only one tribe permitted
hunting by the government. Time and
frequency of taking meals are not decided
in their daily life. Principally they eat
whenever food is found. However, now-
adays maize, which is obtained from agri-
cultural tribes in exchange for wild honey
etc., is prepared for children and old
people. When they have enough maize
in reserve, women do not go out to collect
food. Hunting and honey collection is
carried out from May through October,
and during the rainy season and the in-
terval from November to April they col-
lect fruit, nuts and rootstocks. Because
those kinds of food do not exist so much
in the nature, they do not live as a large
group and do not stay over two weeks
at one place. Therefore, they have no
stable houses and make only temporary
dwellings chiefly with branches.
Mbulu, called Iraq also, subsist by far-
ming and hunting. They breed cattle,
donkeys, sheep and goats as Datoga do,
Geographic Distribution of Stature and Environmental Factors 271
and have farms of 2 acres on the average,
for maize, millet and cash plants such as
calabash, onion and tobacco. They take
maize as the staple food usually with
milk and milk products, sometimes with
side-dishes of onion, tomatoes and wild
plants. Home-made butter is used for
cooking, salt collected from Lake Eyasi
during dry season is used as the seasoning.
They do not eat fish.
Sukuma is a Swahili speaking Islamic
farmers of Bantu origin. Although maize
is their staple food, they eat millet, Indian
millet and starch of cassaba also, and
boiled rice is the most cherished delicacy
for them. Side-dishes are rich in variety
such as meat, fish, vegetables and wild
plants. For breakfast they customarily
took porridge of maize, millet or Indian
millet, but since English settlement era
they learned to drink tea, also. Recently
they often put into tea milk bought from
pastoral people. Sometimes they drink
coffee in the morning. Sukuma is on the
highest level of culture among 4 tribes,
and is the only one tribe that is under
the application of a new rule to set a
lavatory for every house.
Datoga, nomad or pastoral people in
Tanzania, is equal in stature to Masai
and Samburu in Kenya ; semi-nomadic
Mbulu as well as Rendille and Turkana
seems to rank next to Datoga. The culti-
vating tribe Sukuma is smaller than those,
and Hadzapi is the smallest. Significant
differences of stature are found among
those 4 Tanzanian tribes except between
Datoga and Mbulu.
Those tribes in Kenya and Tanzania
are living in the same land under different
subsistence economy. Nomads are the tal-
lest, semi-nomadic ranks next. Plant
cultivators are the smallest except a small
number of hunting and collecting natives.
There seems to exist certain relation be-
tween habitual diet and stature. Nomads
depend much on milk products in their
diet contrasting to plant cultivators who
depend much on cereals and vegetables.
During growth period, for growth of
bones minerals such as phosphor, magne-
sium and especially calcium are indispen-
sable. Milk and milk products contain
more minerals than cereals.
III. GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF STATURE IN EUROPE
1. Nations' stature and national food
supply
Turkish people belong to one of the
tallest in Asia, but in Europe they no
more belong to taller group. In Europe
it is wellknown that peoples' stature is
taller in the northern countries and
shorter in the southern. LUNDMAN (1967)
completed a map of geographic distribu-
tion of stature in Europe, as seen in Fig.
2. Following him the author tried to
rank the stature of European nations as
shown in Table 13.
To find the relation between food con-
sumption and nations' stature, national
average supplies of food per person per
day are cited from FAO's Production
Yearbook. Fig. 3 shows national food
supplies per caput per day of 17 European
countries in 1951/53. There seems to be
found a tendency that national supplies
272 E. TAKAHASHI
Fig. 2. Geographic distribution of stature in Europe (after
LUNDMAN, 1967),
Note 1, below 160cm; 2. 160-164cm; 3. 164-168cm;
4. 168-172cm; 5. 172cm and over.
Table 13. Evaluation of stature grade of European
nations based on Lundman's map (male),
of cereals, pulses and nuts, and fruit and
vegetables are more abundant in southern
countries, and of sugar, meat, eggs, milk
and milk products, and fats and oils are
ampler in northern countries. If it is
permitted to calculate correlation coeffi-
cients between national stature grade and
national supplies of food, the result ap-
pears as shown in Figs. 4-13 and Table 14.
Correlation coefficients of
national stature of adult
male are significant nega-
tive with national supplies
of cereals, pulses and nuts,
and fruit and vegetables,
and significant positive
with potatoes and other
starchy roots, sugar and
syrups, and milk and milk
products. Although an in-
terpretation is not so easily
given to all those correla-
tionships, the result seems
to coincide with what is ob-
tained in the study of Asia
and East Africa in some
points. In Asia, peoples'
stature is taller in an in-
land desert or steppe area in
middle latitude, and shorter
in rice producing hot and
rainy southeastern area.
Peoples in desert or steppe
generally consume more
meat, more milk and milk
products than peoples in
monsoon area of Southeast
Asia who consume more
cereals for calorie intake
and more pulses for protein intake. The
reason of the correlation of stature with
national supplies of potatoes and other
starchy roots and of sugar and syrups is
not clear.
2. Geographic distribution of stature
and geology in France and Spain
KHERUMIAN and SCHREIDER (1963)
published the data of recruits' stature in
Geographic Distribution of Stature and Environmental Factors 273
Fig. 3, National food supplies per caput per day in 17 European countries in 1951/53
(from FAO: Production Yearbook), Note Potatoes: potatoes and other starchy roots,
Sugar: sugar and syrups, Pulses: pulses and nuts,
Vegetables: fruit and vegetables.
274 E. TAKAHASHI
Fig. 4, Correlation of stature with national supplies of cereals for 16 European
countries.
Fig. 5, Correlation of stature with national supplies of potatoes and other starchy
roots for 16 European countries.
Geographic Distribution of Stature and Environmental Factors 275
Fig. s, Correlation of stature with national supplies of sugar and syrups for 16
European countries.
Fig. 7, Correlation of stature with national supplies of pulses and nuts for 16
European countries.
276 E. TAKAHASHI
Fig. 8, Correlation of stature with national supplies of fruit and vegetables for 16
European countries.
Fig. 9, Correlation of stature with national supplies of meat for 16 European
countries.
Geographic Distribution of Stature and Environmental Factors 277
Fig. 10. Correlation of stature with national supplies of fish for 16 European
countries.
Fig. 11. Correlation of stature with national supplies of eggs for 16 European
countries.
278 E. TAKAHASHI
Fig. 12, Correlation of stature with national supplies of milk and milk products for
16 European countries.
Fig. 13, Correlation of stature with national supplies of fats and oils for 16 European
countries.
Geographic Distribution of Stature and Environmental Factors 279
Fig. 14, Geographic distribution of stature of recruits by prefecture in France, 1959
(after KHERUMIAN and SCHREIDER, 1963),
France in 1959 by prefecture, as shown
in Fig. 14. Although lacking in data of
southwestern 8 prefectures, taller people
distribute in the northern, northeastern
and eastern regions of France. Peoples
in the western regions-Normandie, Bre-
tagne, Maine, Anjou and Toulaine-are a
little shorter than those in other regions.
The same tendency of geographic distri-
bution of recruits' stature in France was
also found in the data of the early nine-
teenth century (VILLERME, 1829)
Within such a developed country as
France in West Europe, regional difference
of dietary habit should be small compared
to the international difference. Although
there might be considered the existence
of some inclination of socio-economic
condition, one should remark the mineral
content of the drinking water, because
from the point of view of bone formation
in the growth period, mineral content of
drinking water such as calcium is not
negligible. In France, the nature of the
280 E. TAKAHASHI
Fig. 15. Geology in West Middle Europe (copied from Akademia Nauk SSSR : Physico-
Geographicheskii Atlas Mira, Moskva, 1964),
ground in the north-western regions (Nor.
mandie, Bretagne, Maine and Anjou) and
the central mountainous regions (Marche,
Limousin and Auvergne) are markedly
different from that of the northern area,
as seen in Fig. 15. The former is covered
with very old stratum of the Precam-
brian, in contrast with the latter which is
Geographic Distribution of Stature and Environmental Factors 281
Table 14. Correlation coefficients of adult
male stature with national average food
supplies in 16 European countries.
*p<0 .05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001
Excluding Yugoslavia
covered with the Cretaceus and the Ter-
tiary. It might be assumed that the old
strata are more deficient in minerals than
the mordern strata, because the super-
ficial ground has been washed out by pre-
cipitation so long as several hundred mil-
lion years.
The fact that the big rivers rising in
the Alps and Jura Mountains such as the
Seine, the Rhone and the Rhine contain a
far greater amount of dissolved solids
such as calcium, as seen in Table 15 (LI-
VINGSTONE, 1963), seems to be natural be-
cause those mountains consist of younger
strata. The fact that most of old bones
of prehistoric era have been discovered in
the strata of limestone or the Cretaceous
proves the important role of calcium to
the preservation of bones, which is appli-
cable to the bones of a living body.
Calcium dissolved in the drinking water
is absorbed through mucous membrane of
intestine and lay up in bones without
accumulation in serum.
The same relation between geographic
distribution of stature and geology
in France is found in Iberian Pe-
ninsula. In Spain the tallest peo-
ple inhabit Vascongadas Province
in the neck of the peninsula facing
Bay of Biscay (Fig. 16). The
second tallest people inhabit the
area from Vascongadas along the
southern foot of Pyrenees to the
Mediterranean coast facing the Gulf
of Valencia with Balearic Islands.
From the northwestern coast of the
peninsula to the central inland area inhabitants are shorter. According
to LUNDMAN (1969) this inclination
of stature distribution in Iberian Penin-
sula was also found right in 1905.
The figure of stature distribution seems
to simulate the geologic distribution of
the peninsula. As shown in Fig. 17, the
Precambrian and the Palaeozoic strata
cover from northwestern coast to the
central inland area. Although the Pyre-
nees consist of the Palaeozoic, the coast
of Bay of Biscay from San Sebastian to
Santander and the surrounding area con-
sist of the Cretaceus and the south neigh-
boring area consist of the Tertiary. The
coast and the background areas of the
Gulf of Valencia, where taller people in-
habit, consist of the Cretaceus and the
Jurassic. It is regrettable that the data
of river water analyses lack for the Duero,
the Guadiana, the Guadalquivir and the
Ebro, except for the Tejo in Portugal
(LIVINGSTONE, 1963).
DISCUSSION AND SUMMARY
From the study of geographic distribu-
282 E. TAKAHASHI
Table 15. Analyses of river water from West Europe.
From Data of Geochemistry, 6th ed. G24. US Government Printing, 1963.
Fig. 16. Geographic distribution of stature in Iberian
Peninsula, from Spanish military material in 1927 and
Portuguese material in 1932 (after LUNDMAN,1967).
tion of stature in Asia, we could find that
peoples in deserts and steppes are usually
taller than peoples who subsist by rice
plantation or other cereals production in
warm and humid climate area. From the
study of East African tribes we could
know that nomads and pastral peoples are
taller than plant cultivators and col-
lecting and hunting peoples. From those
studies and the author's previous study
of growth in Japan, he deduced the domi-
nancy of the effect of con-
sumption of milk products
for growth. The fact that
Scotchmen especially the
Highlanders were a little tal-
ler than English and Irish-
men, seems to be interpreted
by the fact many Highland-
ers subsisted by cattle or
sheep breeding. The same
interpretation may be also
applied for the tallness of
the mountaineers of Swit-
zerland, Tyrolians and Sa
voyards, though there also
the role of geology should
be considered. The corre-
lation between nations' stat-
ure and national food supplies for 16 Eu-
ropean countries seems to affirm the effect
of milk and milk products on growth to
a certain extent. As the largest contrib-
uting factor to height growth-bone pro-
longation-the role of calcium intake is
stressed.
As for calcium intake, that from drink-
ing water should not be neglected. Al-
though the content of calcium in drinking
water is small compared with that in
Geographic Distribution of Stature and Environmental Factors 283
Fig. 17. Geology of Iberian Peninsula (copied from Akademia Nauc SSSR : Physico-
Geographicheskii Atlas Mira, Moskva, 1964),
food, the absorption rate of calcium from
water in intestine seems to be far higher
than that from food except milk.
In the geographic distribution of stature
in Europe, Montenegro of Yugoslavia is
marked as a spot of taller people. For
the explanation of the fact by environ-
mental factors, analyses of river water
or drinking water are wanted as well as
habitual diet. In China peoples are taller
in the North than in the South. As seen
in a n old saying regarding traffic in China
"boat in the South, horse in the North ",
in the North, neighboring Ordos and Gobi
desert, breeding of horse and other domes-
tic animals seemed to be more prosperous
than in the South. Beside that, analyses of
river water of Hwang Ho, Yangtze Kiang,
etc. are needed to interpret the north-south
difference of Chinese stature. River water
of Hwang Ho and Yangtze Kiang is gues-
sed to contain much calcium, because the
Cretaceus covers the ground of the wind-
ing part of Hwang Ho and most part of
Tibet from where Yangtze Kiang rises.
The effect of the socio-economic factor
to stature distribution, as stated in the
previous paper of the author, seemed to
be indirect. In a country where personal
income is not sufficient to sustain the
diet of the highest level in nutriments,
intake of calcium as well as animal pro-
tein relates to the income and expenditure.
For example, nutrient intake per person
per day by monthly expenditure group in
Japan is as shown in Fig. 18. The figure
is based on the National Nourishment Sur-
vey in 1967. A, B, C, D and E mean month-
ly expenditure group respectively below
5, 000 yen, 5, 000-9, 999 Yen, 10, 000-14, 999
Yen, 15, 000-19, 999 Yen, and 20, 000 Yen
and over per person of consumer's families.
Almost all of main food, except rice
and fish, increase with expenditure group.
Specifically large discrepancy is found
in meat and poultry, milk and milk pro-
ducts, fruit, etc. On the contrary, the
less the total expenditure is, people take
284 E. TAKAHASHI
Fig. 18. Nutrient intake by expenditure group in Japan, 1967.
Expenditure group (monthly expenditure per person of family) : A, below 5, 000 yen ;
B, 5, 000-9, 999 yen; C, 10, 000-14, 999 yen ; D, 15, 000-19, 999 yen; E , 20, 000 yen and over
(from the Result of the National Nourishment Survey of Japan in 1967).
Geographic Distribution of Stature and Environmental Factors 285
the more rice.
LITERATURE CITED
BUCHI, B. C., 1968: Somatic groups composing
the modern population of India. Proc. VIII
Internat. Congr. Anthrop. Ethn. Sci., I: 154-
158. Tokyo.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations, 1964. Production Yearbook,
18: 259-262.
IMANISHI, K. and UMESAO, T. (ed.), 1968:
Studies in African societies. Report of the
Kyoto University Africa Scientific Expedi-
tion, 1962-68, pp.45-258. Tokyo.
KHERUMIAN, R. et SCHREIDER, E., 1963: Rdpar-
tition departemental de la stature, du poids
et de la circonference thoracique en France
Metropolitaine. Biotypologie, 24: 3-27.
LASKER, G.W., 1969: Human biological adap-
tability. Science, 166: 1480-1486.
LIVINGSTONE, D. A., 1963: Chemical composi-
tion of rivers and lakes. Chapter G of "Data
of Geochemistry (6th ed.)" : G23-24. Washing-
ton.
LUNDMAN, B., 1967: Geographische Anthro-
pologie. S.93-95. Stuttgart.
LUNDMAN, B., 1969: Zur Anthropologie der
Iberischen Halbinsel. Homo, 20: 245-249.
MARTIN, R. and SALLER, K., 1959: Lehrbuch
der Anthropologie, II: 775-786. Stuttgart.
SHAPER, A.G., WRIGHT, D.H., and KYOBE, j,.
1969: Blood pressure and body build in three
nomadic tribes of Northern Kenya. East Af r.
Med. J., 46: 273-281.
TAKAHASHI, E., 1966: Growth and environ-
mental factors in Japan. Human Biol., 38:
112-130.
TAKAHASHI, E., 1967: Geographic distribution
of mortality rate from cerebrovascular di-
sease in European countries. Tohoku J. Exp.
Med., 92: 345-378.
TUKUDA, Ch., 1958: Anthropometric study on
the aborigines of Java. J. Anthrop. Soc. Nip-
pon 66: 165-178; 216-226. (in Jap.) VILLERME, L.R., 1829: Memoire sur la taille
de I'homme en France. Ann. Hyg. Publ. Med.
Leg., 1: 351-399.
WILLIAMS, A.W., 1969: Blood pressure differ-
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(Recieved May 4, 1971)
286 E. TAKAHASHI
人 類 身 長 の 地 理 的 分 布 と 環 境 要 因
高 橋 英 次
東北大学医学部衛生学教室
ア ジァお よび ヨーロ ッパ における身長の地理的分布お よび東 アフリカ における部族の身 長 と環境要因 との関
係を検討 した.
アジア地域 について は,MARTIN-SALLER の人類学 教科書 に所載のア ジァ諸地域住民 の平均身長を利用 し
た.測 定年次 ・被検数 ・標準偏差 などの記載のない ものが多 いが,他 に適切な資料がえ られないので これを使
用 した.身 長分布 の地域差の大 きい印度お よび その周辺地域で は,西 パキスタ ンを含む北西部地方 の砂漠 ・乾
燥地帯が一般 に長身で165cm 以上を示すが,こ れに対 して東部 ガンジス河流域か らビルマにかけて,ま た南
イ ンド・セ イロンにかけて はすべて165cm 未満であ り,山 間部族の うちには155cm末 満の ものもあ る.こ
の地方 は気候的には降水量が多 く,概 して稲作地帯 に属す る.シ ベ リァ北部では冬季狩猟 ・夏季漁撈 を行 う種
族が多いが,牧 畜 は行 って い な い.中 緯度地方 に向 うに したがって 半ば定着 した遊牧民や農耕民 が居住す る
が,こ れ らシベ リァ以北 の住民の平均身 長はすべて155~164cm の範囲内にある.日 本列島および朝鮮半島
を含む極東地域住民 も同 じ範囲 の中位身長を示 して いる.島嶼 東南 アジアについては,ル ソ ン島ザ ンバ レス山
系のア エタ族やスマ トラ西北方のア ンダマ ン島民のよ うに155cm 未満の低身長種族 もみ られるが,大 部分は
155~164cm の中位身長を示す.第2次 大戦中 ジャワ島で計測を行 った附 田の数値 によれば,同 島在住 の諸種
族間 の身長差 は社会階層や年 齢層 による差に近 い値を示 している.中 国か ら大 陸東南 アジアにかけて は,内 陸
部寄 りの住民に高身長 がみ られ るが,平 野部の稲作地帯 では一般に155~164cm の中位身長を示 して いる.
ただ しマライ半島山岳部原住民 は155cm 未満 の低身長である.蒙 古 ・トルキスタ ン・チベ ッ トか ら中央 アジ
アを経て西 ア ジアに至 る中緯度 内陸部 はイン ド北西部 とともにその大部分が砂漠 ・半砂漠 ・高原ステ ップなど
で 占め られてい るが,こ れ らの地域の住民 の大部分 は165cm 以上の高身長を示 してい る.た だ し,中 央 アジ
アの砂漠地帯の中で もアム ・シル両河による灌概が行われ農耕 に従事 している流域住民は165cm に達 しない。
要 するにア ジアで は,主 として稲作農業の行われてい るモ ンスー ン地域やその他 の農耕地域の住民 に くらべ
て,食 生活 にお いて畜産品に対す る依存度の大 である内陸砂漠地域住民 は長身 である.FAO の調査報告 によ
り1951/53年 の国民1人 当 り食糧供給量をみると,乳 お よび乳製品の配分量は 日本 ・台湾 ・フィ リッピンなど
に くらべて トルコやパキスタ ンは約10倍 ほ ども多 い.
東ア フ リカの同一地域に住む原住民 につ いて食生活形態 と身長の関係 をみた。 ケニヤの部族 については主と
して East Afr.Med.J.所 載の文献によ り,タ ンザニヤの部族 については京都大学ア フリカ学術調査隊報告
および同未発表資料を供 与利用 させて もらったが,牧 畜民は農耕民 に比 して長身で ある.
ヨーロッパについて は 身長の地理的分布を示 した LUNDMAN の地図によって16か 国国民の身長を6つ の階
層 に格づ けし,FAO の国民1人 当りの食品群別配分量 との間に相関 を求あてみた.身 長 と乳お よび乳製品,
砂糖類お よび いも類 との間 に順相 関,穀 類,豆 類 および野菜果実 との間 に逆相関がみ られた.こ れ らの関係 の
解釈 にはなお慎重 な検討を要 する ものがあ るが,著 者が前 に46都 道府県 につ いて14才 と17才 の男女生徒の身長
と消費実態調査成績 によ る米 ・肉魚 ・牛乳卵 ・野菜 の消費額 との間に相関を求めた結果,米 とは相関がな く他
の3者 ことに牛乳卵 との相 関が最 も顕著であ ったこととも関連 して,著 者 は動物性蛋白質 とともに カル シウム
の身長発育 に対す る意義を重視 してい る.
カル シウムその他 の鉱物質は食物 のみな らず飲 料水 か らの摂取 も当然考え られ る.フ ランスお よび スペ イン
の壮 丁身長の地理 的分布には地質 との関連の考慮される ものがあ る.こ の関連 は河川水 の ミネラル含量によ っ
て仲 介 され るもの と考え られ,セ ー ヌ ・ライ ン・ロー ヌの河川水 はロァール ・ガロンヌに くらべて ミネラル こ
と にカル シウムの含量が大であ る.