Tall people have a higher risk of developing cancer. According to the World Cancer Research Fund (WRF), tall people are more susceptible to pancreatic, colon, uterine (endometrial), ovarian, prostate, kidney, skin (melanoma), and breast (pre- and postmenopausal).
Why is that?
Nothing has been clearly revealed, but there are some suspicious points.
According to the UK Million Women Study, taller women were associated with a higher risk of developing 15 out of 17 cancers studied.
For every 10 centimeters increase in height in women, the overall risk of cancer increased by 16 percent. A similar increase was found in men.
To be more specific, women of average height 165cm will develop cancer in about 45 out of 10,000 people each year, while women of 175cm will develop cancer in about 52 out of 10,000 people. In practical terms, this is a very small increase in risk, equivalent to 7 more people per 10,000 people.
Another study also found that taller people had a higher incidence of 22 of the 23 cancers studied.
According to The Conversation, a nonprofit academic media outlet with direct participation from experts, the relationship between height and cancer risk appears across race and income levels, and studies that investigated genes that predict height also found the same results. This suggests that there is a biological link between cancer and height.
The most popular theory to date has to do with the fact that tall people have more cells than short people. For example, tall people have longer colons, which means they are more likely to have more cells, and therefore are at a higher risk of developing colon cancer than shorter people.
Scientists think that this is how cancer develops. When cells divide to create new cells, genetic damage can occur, and when these damaged genes accumulate, cancer can develop. People with more cells in their bodies are more likely to experience more cell divisions, which can increase their risk of developing cancer.
Some studies suggest that taller people have a higher incidence of cancer because they have more cells, which may partly explain why men are more likely to develop cancer than women (men are taller on average).
But this theory is incomplete, because it is unclear whether height is proportional to the size of all body organs. For example, do taller women have larger breasts and ovaries?
One study that looked at the relationship between height and cancer found that organ mass explained the relationship between height and cancer in eight of the 15 cancers studied, but it did not explain the other seven.
Another theory is that there is a common factor that both increases a person’s height and increases their risk of cancer.
A prime candidate is the hormone insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). This hormone helps children grow and continues to play an important role in stimulating cell growth and division into adults. Our bodies need to create new cells when old ones become damaged or old. But too much of a good thing can be a problem. Some studies have shown that people with higher than average IGF-1 levels are at a higher risk for breast or prostate cancer. But this isn’t consistent across all cancer types.
Experts believe that the two factors discussed above (more cells and more IGF-1) are likely working together.
This is still only speculation. More research is needed to better understand why taller people are more likely to develop cancer and to use that information to help treat cancer.
“Remember that height only increases cancer risk by a very small amount,” said Professor Susan Jordan of the University of Queensland’s School of Public Health in Australia and Dr. Karen Tousley, a postdoctoral researcher at the same university. “We need to remember that height only increases cancer risk by a very small amount,” she said. “There is more we can do to reduce cancer risk than just height.”
At the same time, he advised the following practices: ▽healthy diet, ▽regular exercise, ▽maintaining an appropriate weight, ▽limiting alcohol consumption, and ▽quitting smoking.
He also comforted tall people by reporting research results showing that tall people have a lower risk of heart attack or stroke.
2024-09-02 11:37:30