Does the height of the mother have any effect on the baby's health? Yes, it does. At least thats what the lastest studies say. Women who are tall give birth to healthier babies having a higher life expectancy.Dr. S. V. Subramanian from the Havard School of Public Health and his team analysed data from 54 different developing countries.

The participants were divided into various height categories (ranging from 121 cm to 160 cm). By the end of the research 12 per cent of the children died before the age of five.

All belonged to mothers who were shorter in height.Therefore it was concluded that the mother's health, height and weight were important factors to determine the baby's development in the womb. Most babies born to short mothers fail to flourish physically.

They are often underweight and inherits the mother's diseases.Children born to the short moms have about a 40 per cent higher risk of dying during childhood than those born to the taller mothers. The mortality rate among those born to tall mothers was about one in 14, compared to about one in seven for those born to short mothers.The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and a related story was recently published by NDTV.