What your HEIGHT says about your health – from your risk of diabetes to cancer and heart disease
We all know the importance of monitoring our weight in the fight against cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
But now it seems that height - or lack of - also plays an important role in our physical and mental well-being. Especially, research suggests, as we age.
In fact, new data from the US has found an unlikely correlation between tall women and serious age-related issues, such as type 2 diabetes, kidney failure and memory loss.
The data, , was based on a longitudinal study by Wenjie Ma - a doctoral student in epidemiology at .
Presenting her findings at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions in New Orleans, earlier this week, she detailed how ill health and height collide for women when they reach their seventies.
Analysing 68,000 women over a thirty year period, the subjects first had their heights and BMI-related details recorded in 1980 when their average age was 44. This took into consideration how much they exercised, the quality of their food intake and whether they smoked.
This was repeated 32 years later, in 2012, and off-set against the original information to determine who had aged the 'best' - based on a lack of physical and mental health issues, plus a complete absence of chronic diseases such as cancer, Type 2 diabetes and kidney failure.
Ranked into height - ranging from 62 inches to 63, 64, 66 and 68 inches - the women at the upper end of the scale consistently aged 'worse' than their shorter peers.
This was consistent throughout the findings, even when other critical variables were introduced - such as: marital status, ethnicity, menopausal stage and their family history of disease.
The news echoes previous analysis of height and corresponding health.
Past research has shown tall people have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes than their shorter peers. Yet, the taller a person is, the greater their risk of certain cancers.
This thought to be related to fat content in the liver.
Meanwhile, in June, a team at Chapman University in California found a man's height correlated to the amount of sexual partners he had.
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They analysed the sexual habits of 60,000 people and found that men who were between 5ft 8in and 5ft 10in (thus deemed shorter than average) tended to have one to three less partners than others.
Thankfully, when it comes to women's age-related health, Ma insists that a healthy diet can off-set the links.
Specifically, she noted how the women who regularly consumed a more balanced, vegetable-rich diet tended to "soften the association between taller height and unhealthy ageing".
The study is yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.
