It was the bizarre image that sparked a thousand internet memes earlier this month.
Gary Barlow’s son, 24, was seen towering over his father, making the 53 year-old appear borrower-like in sature.
The images led social media users to dig out images of other ‘giant’ celebrity children — including Bear Grylls’ 18 year-old son, Mamaduke and, Donald Trump’s son Barron Trump, 18, and most recently, Kourtney Kardashian’s eldest son, Mason, 14.
Now, a new study presented at the American Heart Association Conference in Chicago, has offered an explanation for the phenomenon.
Experts from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York examined data from 13,000 Americans of Latino and Hispanic descent, including details like their height, socioeconomic upbringing and genetics.
The findings revealed that, of the factors that determine how tall we become, family income was the second strongest indicator, behind genetics.
While 70-80 per cent of how tall we become lies with the genes we inherit from our parents, the remainder is determined by our environment.
Previous studies have found that sleep, stress and access to healthcare are all important factors.
Kourtney – who stands at five-feet-tall – went to the store with Mason and her daughter Penelope, 12, on Monday
But the experts found growing up in a wealthier family may trump other contributors.
The team wrote this may indicate ‘better nutrition and societal resources to promote growth’.
They also found this height was also linked to better heart health and cognitive abilities among children.
However, they noted the heart health gains could be reversed in later adulthood once lifestyle factors like obesity from eating too many calories caught up with them.
All celebs’ children come from wealthy households.
Take That singer Gary Barlow has reportedly raked in a whopping £90million fortune, while Kourtney is set to be worth some £28million.
Professional adventurer Bear Grylls reportedly made £8.2 million this year alone.
All are eclipsed by Trump however who has a net worth of reportedly £5billion, although as much of the president’s assets are tied up in the stock value of his own companies.
The findings echo a previous British study that found children from poorer areas in England were over four times more likely to measure below the average height for their age compared to those in more affluent areas.
A wealth of data also shows that children from richer countries are, on average, taller than those from poorer ones.
Gary Barlow shares Daniel, 25 (L) Emily, 22 and Daisy, 15 (R) with wife of 25-years Dawn Andrews (far right). The photo has gone viral after a sweet family photo showed his son towering over him, but some are shocked by his real height
The 18-year-old Barron could be seen standing a head above the rest of the Republican cohort as they took to the stage at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate
A picture of Bear Grylls and his rarely seen son Marmaduke has resurfaced as the 18-year-old dwarfed the adventurer, 50, as they posed for a family photo in April
The height of British children, and it’s link to nutrition, became a political talking point earlier this year.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer attacked the then Conservative Government over figures that showed the UK is falling in the international rankings for child height.
The country’s average for five-year old girls fell 27 places in international comparisons between 1985 and 2019, below Portugal, Turkey and Brazil.
For boys, Britain has dropped 33 places over the same period, trailing Egypt, Haiti, Ukraine and Argentina.
Data also showed British five-year-olds are on average 7cm shorter than Dutch children, with a poor diet being blamed by some experts.
The average five-year-old boy in the UK is 44.3in (112.5cm) tall compared with 47.1in (119.6cm) in the Netherlands.
The average girl is around 43.9in (111.5cm) tall while her Dutch peer is 46.6in (118.3cm), national data collected by the Non-Communicable Diseases Risk Factor Collaboration shows.
Charities and food campaigners have been quick to blame junk food diets rich in ultra-processed foods in Britain for stunting children’s growth.
A report by The Food Foundation found the average height of five-year-olds has been falling since 2013, with British boys ranked shortest and girls second shortest among developed nations.
The charity’s report noted this fall in height followed a reduction in the consumption of key nutrients in the average UK diet, including calcium, zinc, vitamin A, folate and iron.
