If you’re tall, you’re prone to cancer, diabetes risk low

Being vertically gifted affects your health in a slew of different ways and now a recent study has revealed how your height can determine your risk of developing a chronic health condition.

Here’s too all tall people among you. Being vertically gifted affects your health in a slew of different ways and now a recent study has revealed how your height can determine your risk of developing a chronic health condition. The study, by Harvard School of Public Health and Medical School and the German Center for Diabetes Research, shows that height has an important impact on the mortality from certain common diseases, irrespective of body fat mass and other modulating factors.

Matthias Schulze of the German Institute of Human Nutrition in Potsdam (DIfE) said that 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.

Read: It’s cold alright, but what exactly is cryotherapy? And is it safe?

The authors suspect that the increase in body height is a marker of overnutrition of high-calorie food rich in animal protein during different stages of growth. Thus, already in utero, lifelong programming might take place that until now has mainly been established for the insulin-like growth factor 1 and 2 and the IGF-1/2 system.

Read: Chew the fat. It’s good for you

The scientists advocate considering the factor growth and adult height more than hitherto in the prevention of the above-mentioned major diseases. In particular, physicians should be made more aware of the fact that tall people -- although less often affected by cardiovascular disease or type 2 diabetes -- have an increased risk of cancer. Hitherto, the importance of diet has been underestimated, especially during pregnancy and in children and adolescents. The study is published in Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology.