The older a person gets, the more prone to having cancer he becomes. Interestingly, but it’s not only age that has an effect on the risk of getting this illness, according to a recent study. If you are tall, it’s more likely for you to have cancer, compared to short people.

How a person’s height relates to cancer

It’s always been considered that your age and heredity are the only uncontrollable factors that have an influence on getting cancer.

But a biologist Leonard Nunney (University of California) states that tall people get sick more often than the shorter folk.

He conducted an extensive study on whether the person’s height has influence on the onset of malignant growth.

The researchers analyzed the data from 4 longitude studies where over 20 types of tumors were considered.

Nunney came to the conclusion that tall people are more prone to developing cancer because there are more cells in their bodies.

He says that the results of his research are substantiated with the data from previous studies and cannot be disputed: the larger the amount of cells in a human body, the more the individual is likely to become a patient of oncology department.

As Nunney asserts, there are two things that entail a greater risk: the number of cells and the number of cell divisions.

Being tall means having a considerable number of cells – it doubles the chances of getting a tumor. If cells in a body are divided twice as many times, chances increase even more.

In other words, the greater height is a hindrance to having a long and healthy life, while being short is an advantage, as it decreases the possibility of bad mutations causing malignant growth.

How much more prone are larger individuals to developing the big C?

The risk of getting ill is increasing by 10% with every 10 cm (4 inches) of height, according to the researchers. That’s quire a substantial payout for having advantages typical for taller guys!

Ladies of great statue are not an exception. They, too, have higher chances of developing an oncology problem.

Size does matter, and in case of malignant tumors, smaller is better.

What cancers are the most dangerous for tall people?

The author of the research studied how frequent different types of this illness are in both men and women.

As the result, tall people are more prone to have any cancer possible, as compared with short individuals.

• But women are more likely to have thyroid or any type of skin tumors.
• Men are at risk of getting skin cancer, too.

Nunney concluded there are only 4 out of 18 types of tumors the development of which isn’t related to being short or tall. It’s pancreatic, esophagus, stomach cancer, and leukoplakia. These types of illness are closely linked to the environmental impact.

Why men suffer higher levels of cancer

The majority of women are shorter than the majority of men, which explains why males develop tumors more often.

But, for example, melanoma is the type of malignant growth that is inherent in both males and females.

This can be due to a hormone called IGF-1 that’s at greater levels in tall adults. The hormone is also related to the increased rate of cell division in taller people.

As to other mammals, the same pattern exists in dogs. Large breeds experience different types of tumors more often than small dogs like Yorkshire terriers, Beagles, or Pinschers.

Basically, larger representatives have more cells in their bodies, have a larger number of cell divisions, and experience more mutations.

From this point of view, much larger species should suffer higher levels of cancers, but this is not what is happening in reality. It’s called Peto’s paradox.

Nunner proposes that it’s because larger species developed better cancer suppression mechanisms. However, within the same species (for instance, humans) there is an apparent difference between the occurrence of cancers between shorter and taller individuals.

Read also:

• Success in love: What is the most important?
• Sleeping naked improves your health and fertility
• Happy people live longer, research suggests
• Research: Foreign brides used to be the norm in human history