• Question: Why do certain people have bigger feet than others?

    Asked by sampalmer16 to Elaine, Heather, Keith on 27 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Keith Siew

      Keith Siew answered on 27 Jun 2013:

      Well… foot size like many other traits is effected by things like genes, gender, environment, etc…

      But there is a well established correlation between foot size and height, this is even used by forensic scientists to estimate the stature of a person they don’t have the body of!

      It makes sense that a taller person would need a proportionally longer foot to keep balanced… so the varied foot size has a lot to do with the varied heights and weights among the general population

    • Photo: Heather Eyre

      Heather Eyre answered on 27 Jun 2013:

      Foot size is really about bone length, and that is affected by genetics and environment (a good diet can really matter).

      But bones tend to grow in sync with each other, so a taller person will have longer bones in general so longer (bigger) feet, that way you are all in proportion. Can you imagine how funny some one 6 ft 2 would look with size 5 feet!

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