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Comparative Study
. 2002 Fall;45(4):475-98.
doi: 10.1353/pbm.2002.0064.

The ecology of height: the effect of microbial transmission on human height

Albertine S Beard  1 , Martin J Blaser
Affiliations
Comparative Study

The ecology of height: the effect of microbial transmission on human height

Albertine S Beard et al. Perspect Biol Med. 2002 Fall.

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.

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