5 Health Problems Linked to Height - ABC News

5 Health Problems Linked to Height - ABC News

 5 Health Problems Linked to Height

Cancer

A new study suggests taller women have heightened risk for ovarian cancer, a disease that kills nearly 15,000 American women each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
British researchers reviewed data from 47 studies involving more than 100,000 women. For every 5-centimeter (2-inch) increase in height above the average 5 feet 3, the risk of ovarian cancer rose 7 percent, according to the study published Tuesday in the journal PLoS Medicine.
In July 2011, a study published in the Lancet Oncology found taller women had an increased risk of 10 different cancers, including breast and skin cancer. And taller men have an increased risk of prostate cancer, according to a 2008 study published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
"One of the big surprises in cancer has been the potential impact of early life nutritional factors on long-term cancer risk," said Dr. Tim Byers, a professor of preventive medicine and biometrics at the University of Colorado Cancer Center in Denver. "I think height is an indicator of some risk factor, but we don't know what the mechanism is."
The findings offer little comfort for tall men and women, whose height -- guided by genes, nutrition and other environmental influences -- was established in their 20s. But Byers said taller people should not worry any more, nor should shorter people worry any less, about their cancer risk.

Heart Disease

Stroke

Alzheimer's Disease

Diabetes