--- title: New Study Sheds Light on Human Height description: Nearly 700 gene variants linked to height have been identified canonical: https://time.com/3472147/study-human-height-genetics/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-05T20:15:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:35:57.319Z article:section: Health og:title: New Study Sheds Light on Human Height og:description: Nearly 700 gene variants linked to height identified og:url: https://time.com/3472147/study-human-height-genetics/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: New Study Sheds Light on Human Height twitter:description: Nearly 700 gene variants linked to height identified twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # New Study Makes Great Strides in Understanding Human Height  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Oct 5, 2014 8:15 PM UTC  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Oct 5, 2014 8:15 PM UTC What makes tall people tall and short people short is becoming less of a mystery to scientists. An international team of researchers has identified [nearly 700 gene variants](http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/10/05/science-height-idINKCN0HU0QU20141005) in more than 400 gene regions that are connected to height — an estimated 20 percent of all the gene variants that play a role in determining one’s size. The findings of the study were published in the journal _Nature Genetics_, Reuters reports. It is believed to be the biggest study of its kind to date. Scientists believe that about 80 percent of a person’s height is hereditarily determined, with environmental factors such as nutrition determining the rest. The average height of humans around the world has risen throughout the last few generations as world nutrition generally improves. Researchers studied the genomes of 253,288 people from Europe, North America and Australia, all with European ancestry and found 424 gene regions with 697 gene variants that are linked to height. Many of the genes identified were not previously known to have an effect on skeletal growth. “For over 100 years, \[height has\] been a great model for studying the genetics of diseases like obesity, diabetes, asthma that are also caused by the combined influence of many genes acting together,” Dr. Joel Hirschhorn, a pediatric endocrinologist and geneticist at Boston Children’s Hospital and [the Broad Institute](https://www.broadinstitute.org/). “So by understanding how the genetics of height works, we can understand how the genetics of human disease works.” \[[_Reuters_](http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/10/05/science-height-idINKCN0HU0QU20141005)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3472147/study-human-height-genetics/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3472147/study-human-height-genetics/"},"headline":"New Study Makes Great Strides in Understanding Human Height","datePublished":"2014-10-05T20:15:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:35:57.319Z","description":"Nearly 700 gene variants linked to height have been identified","url":"https://time.com/3472147/study-human-height-genetics/","keywords":["Genetics","Disease","Science topic","health"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/genetics/","name":"Genetics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3472147/study-human-height-genetics/","name":"New Study Makes Great Strides in Understanding Human Height"}}]}] ```