Short people at greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, warn scientists

Doctors told to take height into account, as 5ft 5in men have risk 40pc larger than those of 5ft 9in

MEN who are 5ft 5in tall are 40 per cent more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes, than those of an average height of 5ft 9in, research suggests.

The effect of height on diabetes is so significant that scientists say it should now be considered an independent risk factor that doctors should take into account when examining patients.

Previous studies have shown that taller people are better at producing and using insulin, which clears sugar from the blood. They also have lower liver fat and a better metabolism.

But the new research is the first to quantify the impact of height on the risk of diabetes. It found that each 3.9in (10cm) increase in height was associated with a 41 per cent decreased risk of diabetes in men and a 33 per cent decrease in women. The link was highest among normal-weight individuals, with an 86 per cent lower risk per 3.9in (10cm) increased height in men, and 67 per cent lower risk in women.

Writing in the journal Diabetologia, Dr Clemens Wittenbecher, of the German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-rehbruecke, said: “Our findings suggest that short people might present with higher cardiometabolic risk factor levels and have higher diabetes risk compared with tall people.

“These observations corroborate that height is a useful predictive marker for diabetes risk and suggest that monitoring of cardiometabolic risk factors may be more frequently indicated among shorter persons, independent of body size and composition.”

He added: “Interventions to reduce liver fat may provide alternative approaches to reduce risk associated with shorter height.”

The study followed 2,660 people for seven years in which time 800 (29 per cent) developed Type 2 diabetes.

If the figures held true for an entire population, it suggests that a man of 6ft would have approximately a one in five chance of developing the condition compared with around one in three for a man of average height, even if other factors such as body mass index and fitness were the same. The risk for a man of 6ft 4in would fall even further, to around one in 10.

For women the fall would be slightly less, with a woman of 5ft 7in reducing her risk to around one in four, compared with someone of 5ft 3in.

Height has frequently been linked to health. In 2015, the University of Edinburgh found that men who were 5ft 5in or shorter were 50 per cent more likely to develop and die from dementia than those who were 5ft 8in or taller.

The University of Leicester also found that short people are more likely to develop coronary heart disease with the risk increasing by 13 per cent for every 2.5in decrease in height.