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What evidence do you have this was caused by malnutrition? I haven't taken a direct look at the skeletal remains, but royal beds were tiny by our standards. And I don't know if they meant it to be accurate, but some museums I visited opted to portray the richest men at the time as pretty short as well.
It's the scientific consensus? This is a review on the topic.
In regard to your specific objection, a recent study found that those in higher social classes were taller: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8516076/
So?
There's a trend there, but not as massive as you're implying. The gentry is about the same height as the wealthier craftsmen. Also, what you said sounded like the difference in height between people now and then comes to malnutrition, and to my knowledge that simply cannot by supported. The aristocrats wouldn't be just a few centimeters above average, if that was the case, they would be towering giants.
The (very broad) review I linked itself links to other reviews that go into the evidence for why nutrition was a component.
I imagine it saturates, you can't become a giant today by eating 4kcal/day. And I think some of the growth stunting was caused by disease.
It being a component does is not enough to prove the very broad point you were making earlier.
Yes, my point exactly.
Sure, but that's neither here nor there regarding the quality of their nutrition. No one denies the progress in hygiene and medicine.
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