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Abstract
Background: The study of differential growth in various animals suggests that a similar growth pattern occurs throughout the bilateral animals. This growth pattern is based on the assumption that a quadratic equation describes the relationship between two body measurements, yielding a quadratic parabola in a graphic presentation.
Aim: Can human growth be studied by comparing body measurements? If the growth of one body part has a definite relation to the growth of another body part and if this relation can be expressed in a quadratic formula, then important conclusions can be reached.
Subjects and methods: An official database of the mean measurements of the Belgian population has been used.
Results: (1) The growth in human length is, from the beginning, constantly and negatively influenced by the growth in girth, so it is evident that growth has to stop; (2) The influence of the growth in girth is stronger in females, resulting in shorter females; (3) The growth of the human head is, from the beginning, constantly and negatively influenced by the growth in body length (both sexes show a very similar pattern); (4) Not all comparisons resulted in a quadratic parabola: the nipple distance is constantly at ∼24% of the thoracic girth in males and young females.
Conclusion: The study of differential growth by using a quadratic parabola gives the answers to the questions “Why do we stop growing?” and “Why are women shorter than men?”.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.