Here's why tall people are at a greater risk of cancer
| Updated: Oct 29, 2018, 11:54 IST
Who knew the risk of cancer was associated with your height, right? Well, a new study states that it very much is. Tall people are at a greater risk of cancer because they have more cells in their body, the study states. A person's risk of developing cancer increases by 10% for every 10 centimeters (4 inches) they are over the average height and this is because they have more cells in their body which could mutate and lead to cancer.
After Leonard Nunney, a professor of biology at the University of California Riverside, analysed previous sets of data on people who had contracted cancer and compared the figures with anticipated rates based on their height, a link was found between a person's total cell number and their likelihood of contracting cancer in 18 of the 23 cancers tested for, the study says. The research also found that the increase in risk is greater for women, with taller women 12% more likely to contract cancer and taller men 9% more likely to do so.
"We've known that there is a link between cancer risk and height for quite a long time -- the taller someone is, the higher the cancer risk," Georgina Hill from Cancer Research UK told a leading news portal. "What we haven't been sure of is why -- whether this is simply because a taller person has more cells in their body, or whether there's an indirect link, such as something to do with nutrition and childhood," added Hill, who was not involved in the study.
After Leonard Nunney, a professor of biology at the University of California Riverside, analysed previous sets of data on people who had contracted cancer and compared the figures with anticipated rates based on their height, a link was found between a person's total cell number and their likelihood of contracting cancer in 18 of the 23 cancers tested for, the study says. The research also found that the increase in risk is greater for women, with taller women 12% more likely to contract cancer and taller men 9% more likely to do so.
"We've known that there is a link between cancer risk and height for quite a long time -- the taller someone is, the higher the cancer risk," Georgina Hill from Cancer Research UK told a leading news portal. "What we haven't been sure of is why -- whether this is simply because a taller person has more cells in their body, or whether there's an indirect link, such as something to do with nutrition and childhood," added Hill, who was not involved in the study.