Body Size and Mortality - Observations from Two Cohorts of U.S. Military Officers

Ulrich Mueller, University of Marburg
Kerstin Walter, University of Marburg
Allan Mazur, Syracuse University

Body size in males predicts social and reproductive success; in females it is not a handicap. Tall people have tall children. For males, there are many reports on tallness coming with better health. Of major causes of death in developed societies, only some cancers are more frequent in taller people. We analyze two datasets with all graduates of the classes 1925 and 1950 of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Both samples are drawn from a population highly screened for health, physical and mental fitness. Thus, the genetics contribution to phenotype variation might be higher than in the general population. In both samples, tallness came with increased general mortality. In general samples this life shortening risk factor may be masked by other life prolonging effects of high social status. Perhaps this is the first evidence of an evolutionary constraint on tallness, predicted, but not found so far.