Kathy writes:
<< Go to any mall in the US on a Sunday afternoon in a city where there are
 lots of relatively recent immigrants from parts of the world where
 environmental conditions are difficult and you can see the stair-step effect
 known as 'positive secular trend' -- here is grandma, born and raised in
 Guatemala (for example), at 4'10" tall; next is mother, born in Guatemala
 and brought to the US in her early teens, at 5'2" tall, and here is
 daughter, born and raised in the US, and already 5'6" at age 12 years.  You
 see this all the time.  Grandma was stunted, mother was somewhat stunted,
 daughter may still be a little stunted -- perhaps she'll end up 5'7" when
 her genetic potential was for 5'8".  The next generation will probably max
 out the genetic potential, at last. >>
Thank you for that interesting mention of this phenomenon, Kathy. Im sure you
are right about the impact of better food and conditions. Do you have any
experience with the immigrant tendency to modernize to artifical feeding when
families enter the US, and begin to birth here, and whether these families
will then attribute some of the increase in height and health to the
'wonders' of formula ? Is this any factor in the common decision to not
breastfeed US born family members?
Judy Le Van Fram, Brooklyn, NY

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