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The human race has peaked and will now get worse, scientists confirm
There appears to be a limit to how tall, old and strong we can be, according to a major new study
www.independent.co.uk
Humanity Has Peaked And It's All Downhill From Here, Says Study
HUMANS08 December 2017ByMICHELLE STARR
Sorry, folks. This is it. If new research is correct, this could be the best it's going to get for humanity in terms of physical fitness. According to the paper, humans have biological limitations - and there may be no more improvements for the species.
And it's partially our own fault. Our effect on the environment, including pollution and climate change, is having a negative impact on our biological limits.
A multi-disciplinary team led by physician Jean-François Toussaint from Paris Descartes University has conducted a review of over 160 studies stretching back 120 years. This research looked into longevity, how well humans can perform athletically, height trends over time, and the environment.
What the review has concluded is that lifespan, physical performance, and height - which were steadily rising throughout the 20th century - have plateaued over the last three decades, since around 1980.
"These traits no longer increase, despite further continuous nutritional, medical, and scientific progress," Toussaint said. "This suggests that modern societies have allowed our species to reach its limits."
This review, the researchers note in their paper, is only possible now. Reliable medical and sports records, and the ability to accurately measure things like physical performance have became available only during the last century - and only now, when we have over a century's worth of these records, can we look at them all together to observe trends.
The effects of the plateau are expected to manifest in more people reaching the threshold, but fewer records being broken; fewer people exceeding the previous record lifespan, fewer people breaking sports records.
We may already be seeing these effects. No one has yet lived older than Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 aged 122 years and 164 days. No one has yet beaten sprinting records for 100 metres and 200 metres set by athlete Usain Bolt in 2008.
We may still see average health and height statistics rise, but in some places in Africa, the researchers note, average heights have begun to decline, indicating insufficient nutrition.
And environmental pollution has been linked to low birth weight, poor health, and lower life expectancy. Climate change has also been linked to lower life expectancy, and the spread of diseases such as malaria.
These factors may contribute towards preventing humans from reaching the upper limits of fitness and lifespan.
"Observing decreasing tendencies may provide an early signal that something has changed but not for the better," Toussaint said.
"The current declines in human capacities we can see today are a sign that environmental changes, including climate, are already contributing to the increasing constraints we now have to consider."
But, he notes optimistically, now that we have some idea about what our upper limits are if this analysis is correct, governments around the world can try to work towards reaching the highest possible values for their populations.
"With escalating environmental constraints, this may cost increasingly more energy and investment in order to balance the rising ecosystem pressures. However, if successful, we then should observe an incremental rise in mean values of height, lifespan and most human biomarkers," he said.
The paper was published in the journal Frontiers in Physiology.
研究表明，人类已经达到顶峰，一切都从这里走下坡路
人类2017 年 12 月 8 日经过米歇尔·斯塔尔
对不起，伙计们。就是这个。如果新的研究是正确的，这可能是人类在身体健康方面所能得到的最好结果。根据这篇论文，人类有生物学上的局限性——而且这个物种可能没有更多的改进。
这部分是我们自己的错。我们对环境的影响，包括污染和气候变化，正在对我们的生物极限产生负面影响。
由巴黎笛卡尔大学的医生 Jean-François Toussaint 领导的一个多学科团队对 120 多年前的 160 多项研究进行了回顾。这项研究调查了寿命、人类在运动方面的表现、随时间推移的身高趋势以及环境。
该评论得出的结论是，自 1980 年左右以来，寿命、身体表现和身高——在整个 20 世纪稳步上升——在过去的 30 年中已趋于平稳。
“尽管营养、医学和科学取得了进一步的持续进步，但这些特征不再增加，”Toussaint 说。“这表明现代社会已经让我们的物种达到了极限。”
研究人员在他们的论文中指出，这项审查现在才有可能。可靠的医疗和运动记录，以及准确测量身体表现等事物的能力仅在上个世纪才出现 - 只有现在，当我们拥有超过一个世纪的这些记录时，我们才能一起查看它们以观察趋势.
预计高原的影响将体现在更多的人达到门槛，但更少的记录被打破；超过之前记录寿命的人越来越少，打破体育记录的人越来越少。
我们可能已经看到了这些影响。没有人比 Jeanne Calment 活得更久，她于 1997 年去世，享年 122 岁零 164 天。目前还没有人打破运动员尤塞恩·博尔特在 2008 年创下的 100 米和 200 米短跑记录。
我们可能仍会看到平均健康和身高统计数据有所上升，但研究人员指出，在非洲的某些地方，平均身高已经开始下降，这表明营养不足。
环境污染与低出生体重、健康状况不佳和预期寿命降低有关。气候变化也与预期寿命降低和疟疾等疾病的传播有关。
这些因素可能有助于阻止人类达到健康和寿命的上限。
Toussaint 说： “观察到下降趋势可能会提供一个早期信号，表明事情已经发生了变化，但并没有变得更好。 ”
“我们今天可以看到目前人类能力的下降表明，包括气候在内的环境变化已经导致我们现在必须考虑的限制越来越多。”
但是，他乐观地指出，既然我们已经知道如果这个分析是正确的，我们的上限是多少，世界各国政府可以努力为他们的人口实现最高可能的价值。
“随着环境限制的不断升级，为了平衡不断上升的生态系统压力，这可能会花费越来越多的能源和投资。但是，如果成功，我们应该观察到身高、寿命和大多数人类生物标志物的平均值逐渐上升，”他说.
该论文发表在《生理学前沿》杂志上。
