And with higher earnings and education, it says, which smells a lot like they're not trying to isolate it as a factor. I'm pretty sure they could add that taller people are better at speaking English and get more vacation time than shorter people.

At a guess:

Populations get taller though improved nutrition and reduced disease risks. Those tend to be associated with a range of really good things. But, within a population nutrition and disease tend to rise and fall together so the negative impacts of height are more important.

Alternatively, height is only apparent in your teen years, more people getting that far has huge impacts on overall longevity.

Yes this article doesn't seem to control for childhood nutrition.

May be it is true for populations but not for individuals ?