We all know the population is shifting, with older people forming a significant proportion of the population.  But there is more than one type of change happening.  The phenomenon of increasing obesity levels in the UK has led to a raft of public health initiatives aimed at tackling the diet, health and well being of people of all ages.  It is well documented that changes in behaviour can be slow to happen and at the moment most initiatives appear to be stemming the tide rather than turning it, but there is no doubt that people’s body shapes are changing.  Less well documented are changes in height; Europeans are on average getting taller and the universal approved heights for everything from beds to transport is increasingly too small or short.

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