Height linked to risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer
A new study shows that tall people have a lower risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes but have a higher cancer risk. Inversely, shorter people should worry more about their sugar intake.
“Epidemiological data show that per 6.5 cm in height the risk of cardiovascular mortality decreases by six percent, but cancer mortality, by contrast, increases by four percent,” said Professor Matthias Schulze of the German Institute of Human Nutrition in Potsdam (DIfE).
The authors found that tall people were more sensitive to insulin and had lower fat in their liver. Authors suspect that this is due to the insulin-like growth factor 1 and 2 and the IGF-1/2 system.
However, this activation of the IGF-1/2 system and other signaling pathways may be related to an increased risk of certain cancers, especially breast cancer, colon cancer, and melanoma because cell growth is permanently activated, the authors suspect. The result is an inverse association with the risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, but a positive association with the risk of cancer.
The scientists advocate considering the factor growth and adult height more than hitherto in the prevention of the above-mentioned major diseases.
These study was done by DZD scientists Professor Norbert Stefan and Professor Hans-Ulrich Häring of the Department of Internal Medicine IV in Tübingen and the Institute for Diabetes Research and Metabolic Diseases of Helmholtz Zentrum München at the University of Tübingen (IDM) and Professor Matthias Schulze of the German Institute of Human Nutrition in Potsdam (DIfE), in collaboration with Professor Frank Hu of the Harvard School of Public Health and Medical School in Boston, USA, to analyze the causes and medical effects of this increase in height.
