Back in the 1800s, Americans were taller than the Dutch, on average. Now the average American man is 5-10 and the average Dutch man is 6-1, according to this ABC story and video. Other countries are towering over us, too.

Though firm evidence on reasons why is slim, the change is being attributed to better diets and better health care for the young in Europe. The logic is simple: If kids eat well, they grow tall and strong. If kids eat like an American, they stay short, get fat, and have myriad health problems.

The report does not square with other evidence, however. A study in 2004 found that Americans have grown fatter and taller since the 1960s: Average height for men increased from just over 5-foot-8 in 1960 to 5-9½ in 2002; average height for women increased from slightly over 5-3 in 1960 to 5-4 in 2002. So if we shrank, it was in a bygone era and you can’t blame diet for any shrinking in the past four decades.

Obviously, more research is needed on all this.

Still, we’re not as tall as the Dutch. And Americans do, on average, have atrocious diets. Yet the evidence of health problems associated with bad diets has not spurred Americans to shun fast food, sugar-laden cereals, and nutrition-deficient white bread in favor of real food. As a nation, we seem not to care. In fact, you get the sense that people are proud of how fat and lazy we’ve become.

Does America still have a competitive streak? If so, perhaps now that we have no choice but to look up to other nations, parents will start to feed their children better, in an effort to grow this country’s next generation to its full potential.