The bigger is better myth has been promoted in the last 20 years by studies that found that taller people have better health. In addition to genetics and heredity, adult height is primarily determined by nutritional intake during infancy and childhood. The better your diet, the healthier and taller you’ll be. But did you know how height inversely correlates with life expectancy?
Life expectancy is inversely related to height. According to studies, men under 5’9″ live 4.95 years longer than men over 5’9”.
Do Short People Live Longer Lives?
It is unclear why, or even if, shorter people are predestined to live longer lives. More research is required.
There are currently several theories:
Caloric limitation or eating less. This may be a factor that favors shorter people living longer lives. Taller people have larger bones and internal organs than short people. This means they require a higher daily caloric intake to function properly.
Cells are fewer in shorter bodies. Tall people can have trillions of additional cells than short people. This increases the exposure and impact of free radicals and carcinogens on cells.
When there are more cells, there are more cell replications. Taller people may find that replacement cells are no longer available to repair tissue and organ damage as they age. (Source: Health Line)
What are Common Tall People Problems?
Cancer and other conditions that may be related to height are examples of health complications. Here’s what science has to say.
Cancer is a Taller Number
A 2016 study of American men and women discovered a link between height, cancer risk, and death from any cause. The study examined death certificates for 14,440 men and 16,390 women aged 25 and up.
According to the researchers, an additional inch of height increased men’s risk of death from all causes by 2.2 percent and women’s risk of death from all causes by 2.5 percent.
A one-inch increase in height resulted in a 7.1 percent increase in the risk of dying from cancer for men and a 5.7 percent increase in the risk of dying from cancer for women.
The researchers took into account education level and birthdays. They concluded that their findings indicated a positive increase in the participants’ access to excellent medical care for conditions other than cancer.
Taller Women and Shorter Women
In multiple studies, taller women were found to have more Venous thromboembolism (VTE) recurrences than shorter women.
在这种情况下，腿部更长、静脉更长（血栓可能形成的部位）可能是原因。该情况的其他潜在风险因素包括年龄、肥胖和长期住院。
身高较高的绝经后女性的风险？
一项对144,701名绝经后女性的2013年研究考察了癌症风险与身高的关系。身高较高与所有类型癌症的发病风险降低相关，包括甲状腺癌、乳腺癌、结肠癌和卵巢癌。
研究发现，身高对癌症发生有轻微但统计学显著的影响。研究人员分析了没有癌症史的女性数据，并尝试控制体质指数和体重因素。
除了身高，许多其他因素也可能影响研究结果。例如，吸烟和饮酒率随身高增加而上升。
教育程度、种族、收入水平以及口服避孕药和激素治疗的使用都可能起作用。研究发现，癌症筛查率对研究结果没有影响。
(来源：Health Line)
来源：The Mirror
