of a lower economic
class have high rates
of CHD, independent of
other risk factors. We
also know that people
with a lower income
are shorter, and have
higher rates of obesity, smoking and sub-
stance abuse. When
I did a study based
on worldwide data, I
found shorter populations not only had lower
heart disease than taller Western people but
in many cases were
entirely free of CHD
and stroke. My findings
were published in the
Indian Heart Journal
about a year ago. I challenged Western studies
because early in the
1900s, CHD was rare
in Europe and the US;
yet people were shorter
than today. If being tall
reduces CHD, then why
isn’t it lower today than
in the early 1900s? In
addition, a twentieth
century study found
Northern
Europeans
had much higher heart
disease
compared
to shorter Southern
Europeans, and based
on 2 million World War
I recruits, Davenport
and Love reported that
tall recruits had more
heart problems than
shorter ones.
Extensive research
shows shorter people
tend to live longer. For
example, a US government report found
Asians had the lowest
17