“Our studies show that taller individuals are more likely to develop cancer but it is unclear so far if they also have a higher risk of dying from cancer or have an increased mortality overall”, said Benyi. Both the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the Wall Street Journal reported that, according to the study, every additional four inches of height increases a woman’s risk of cancer by 18 percent.
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Additionally, taller ladies had a 20 % larger danger of creating breast most cancers, while the danger of creating melanoma elevated by roughly 30 % per 10 cm of peak in each women and men. “It could also be that taller individuals have a higher energy intake which has previously been linked to cancer”, she notes as per The Guardian.
A study involving more than 5 million Swedish men and women suggests that height has a lot to do with cancer risk. Meanwhile, the body of taller people produces more hormones during teenage and this could lead to a higher risk of developing cancer. “Whatever your height, there are lots of things you can do to reduce the risk of cancer – not smoking, cutting down on alcohol, eating healthily, being active, having a healthy weight and enjoying the sun safely can each help you stack the odds against the disease”, she advises.
This was revealed by a study conducted by Swedish researchers from the Karolinska Institutet and University of Stockholm, after investigating 5.5 million people in Sweden from 1958 until 2011. “Height may be a reflection of early age exposures. This study may provide a window to understand a few early life exposures, since adult height is a reflection of genetics and what you are exposed to while you are growing up”. The study, which was presented at the European Society for Pediatric Endocrinology conference in Barcelona, established a relationship between cancer and height and not necessarily a cause-and-effect phenomenon. The researchers started with tracking their health from when they were 20 years old. The participants’ (as adults) heights ranged from 100cm (3-foot-3) to 225cm (7-foot-3).
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Mel Greaves, a researcher at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, added: “Tall people shouldn’t worry that they are destined to get cancer”. “As the cause of cancer is multifactorial, it is hard to predict what impact our results have on cancer risk at the individual level”, she said. She questioned that how could height and cancer risk be related?
