8 February, 2016

Taller you are, higher the cancer risk but lower the diabetes risk

Being vertically gifted affects your health in a slew of different ways and now a recent study has revealed how your height can determine your risk of developing a chronic health condition.

The study, by Harvard School of Public Health and Medical School and the German Center for Diabetes Research, shows that height has an important impact on the mortality from certain common diseases, irrespective of body fat mass and other modulating factors.

Matthias Schulze of the German Institute of Human Nutrition in Potsdam (DIfE) said that epidemiological data show that per 6.5 cm in height the risk of cardiovascular mortality decreases by six percent, but cancer mortality, by contrast, increases by four percent.

The authors suspect that the increase in body height is a marker of overnutrition of high-calorie food rich in animal protein during different stages of growth. Thus, already in utero, lifelong programming might take place that until now has mainly been established for the insulin-like growth factor 1 and 2 and the IGF-1/2 system. Among other consequences, activation of this system causes the body to become more sensitive to insulin action, thus positively influencing the lipid metabolism.

Accordingly, the new data show that tall people are more sensitive to insulin and have lower fat content in the liver, which may explain their lower risk for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, Norbert Stefan added.

The study is published in Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

08.02.2016

Great changes may not happen right away, but with effort even the difficult may become easy

Bill Blackman