Higher chance of cancer for taller people: Research
Taller people, especially females, have a higher risk of developing cancer according to a new research.
For every 10 centimeters over one meter in height, the odds of developing cancer increases by 10 percent in men and 18 percent in women, Swedish researchers say.
As an example in the research, a Swedish woman 1.72 meters tall was about a third more likely to contract cancer than a woman of 1.52 meters, the research noted.
The study was conducted in Sweden and the results were announced in the annual meeting of the European Society for Pediatric Endocrinology in Spain on Thursday.
The study was based on the birth, health, and military records of 5.5 million people born between 1938 and 1991.
Although other studies support similar links between height and elevated cancer risk, the researchers said their work was based on the largest group of men and women yet.
The study was met with some skepticism by other experts who questioned the research methodology. Some stressed that there was a much stronger cancer risk link with factors such as genetics or obesity. They said rather than tallness "causing" an elevated cancer risk, factors like growth hormones may be influencing both traits.
Dorothy Bennett, a scientist at the University of London, said in an interview with the Science Media Center in the UK that “it sounds an odd relationship at first glance, but it is actually very plausible that the risk of cancer in a person should be related to the number of cells in their body, since that determines the number of cells 'at risk'."
"A cancer arises by mutations from a single normal cell. Bigger people have more cells," she added.
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