Better health for those of average height
The average height for an adult man across the UK is 1.75m; for women, it’s 1.6m. If you’re around those heights the world is your oyster. You probably won’t struggle to reach the higher shelves at a supermarket or hit your head on ceilings.
But stray away from the average and you find that your height can have a few surprising effects on your overall health.
Research from the University of Copenhagen which looked at data from over 666,000 Danish men born between 1939 and 1959, found that those who were taller in young adulthood were less likely to get dementia in old age.
After adjusting for factors such as education, the study found that for every 5.8cm taller than average the young men (average height was 1.72m at age 19) were, there was a 10% reduction in the risk of dementia in old age.
This is far from the first time health and height have been linked.
DIABETES
In 2019 research was published suggesting that short men — 1.65m and under — are at an increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. This is since tall people are generally better at producing insulin, which clears sugar from the blood, and have lower liver fat and a higher metabolism.
The study asserted that each 10cm increase in height was associated with a 41% and 33% lower risk of diabetes in men and women respectively.
CANCER
A study of British women between 1.60m and 1.72m published in Lancet Oncology found that taller women are 37% more likely to develop ovarian cancer.
“Tall people may have more cells in their bodies so there’ sa greater chance that one might become cancerous, or the link might be related to levels of growth hormones,” said lead study author Jane Green, a clinical epidemiologist at the University of Oxford.
Another study of British men found that between the ages of 50 and 69, shorter men had a lower chance of developing prostate cancer.
HEART PROBLEMS
While being short might improve your chances against cancer, it ’ s not so good for your heart.
A study in the European Health Journal found that people shorter than 1.60m are about 50% more likely to get coronary heart disease than those who are 1.72m or taller.
In addition, a separate study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that genes which are linked to height can increase your risk of heart disease. For every 6cm shorter a person is than average, they are 13.5% more at risk of cardiovascular illness.
IN THE BRAIN
Height can have a huge effect on mental and brain health too. In 2015, the University of Edinburgh found that men who were 1.65m or shorter were 50% more likely to develop and die from dementia than those who were 1.72m or taller.
Meanwhile, taller people are less likely to have a stroke than short people, especially if they’re at a healthy weight.
This is thought to be more related to the causes of shortness than actually being short.
People who are short tend to be more likely to have suffered malnutrition in childhood (though genetics also play a role) which can both stunt growth and be a risk factor for brainbased illnesses.
HAIR LOSS
Bad news for short men, the genes which code for both shortness and male pattern baldness are supposedly linked. According to research there are a grand total of 63 genes which determine whether a man will end up going bald, and four of those are also linked to shortness.
LONGEVITY
It might be starting to feel like short people are getting the, er, short end of the stick, but that’s not entirely the case. Short people appear to live longer than their tall friends.
Why? Well, there’s a special genetic mutation found in flies, mice and some worms which is related to long life, known as the Methuselah gene, named after the famously old character in the Bible. This same gene was recently discovered in humans, particularly those who live past the age of 95.
However, the gene causes your body to be less sensitive to certain hormones, including some of those which prompt growth. If you have the gene for long life, you’re less likely to grow tall, in short.
However, because shortness can also be related to illness or malnutrition, there’s no guarantee that your particular shortness is necessarily related to having the Methuselah gene.
AND THE REST ...
These are just a few of the great benefits and disadvantages of height. But there are a smorgasbord of studies linking height with health which have uncovered plenty of other findings.
These include short people having less blood clots in their veins, tall women facing longer pregnancies, short people can cool down quicker in intense heat, tall people are more injury prone, transplants in short people tend to go worse than in tall people, and finally, taller people are more prone to back pain.
Overall, it seems that given the sheer weight of disadvantages facing tall and short people, for once, it might be the average people who’ve won the evolutionary jackpot. /©