Does height determine life expectancy? Is there any scientific basis for the statement 'Tall, short lifespan'?

How "unscrupulous" can people do to grow taller?

Chenchen (pseudonym), a 22-year-old boy from Huai'an, Jiangsu Province, was originally 175cm tall, but he always felt that he was a dwarf if he was less than 180cm tall, so he felt inferior. So he carried his parents behind his back and resolutely went to South Korea for a fractured bone augmentation surgery.

I thought that my wish could finally come true, but what Chenchen ushered in was: after the operation, her legs were seriously infected, she was unable to walk, and faced a situation of permanent disability .

Bone augmentation surgery, also known as limb lengthening, was banned from cosmetic procedures as early as 2006 because it was too dangerous.

The risk of bone augmentation surgery should not be underestimated, ranging from X-shaped legs, bony valgus, arch collapse and other problems; to severe tissue necrosis of the lower extremities, or even life-long paralysis .

As for height, many people are indeed more concerned about it, so is the higher the height, the better? In fact, many studies have found that taller people have shorter life spans. Is it true?

1. How much height determines the length of life, is there any scientific basis?

According to the "Report on Nutrition and Chronic Disease Status of Chinese Residents (2020)" released by the National Health and Medical Commission: Compared with 2015, the average height of Chinese men aged 18-44 increased by 1.2 cm to 169.7 cm; women increased by 0.8 cm. cm, is 158 cm.

Is there any scientific basis for the saying that "the taller you are, the shorter your lifespan"?

Recently, the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine conducted a study on the "height and disease association", which selected 323,793 veterans (91.6% male, average height 176cm) as participants for analysis.

It turned out that taller people were more likely to develop atrial fibrillation and varicose veins, peripheral neuropathy . The conclusions were published in the journal PLOS Genetics.

In fact, there are many studies on height and life expectancy.

In April of this year, after a comprehensive analysis of 47 observational studies involving 280,644 cases of colorectal cancer and 14,139 cases of colorectal adenomas, Johns Hopkins University in the United States finally found:

• Tall people are more likely to develop colorectal cancer or colon polyps than small people;
• For every 10cm increase in height, the risk of colorectal cancer increased by 14% and the risk of adenoma increased by 6%.

To sum up, these studies have proved from a scientific point of view that taller is not better, and taller people may have an impact on their health.

Second, height is mostly genetic?

In real life, many people seek to be tall, but for those tall people, why do they have an increased risk of cancer and disease?

At present, there are mainly a few guesses, tall people :

①The secretion of growth hormone tends to be more vigorous , which can easily stimulate cell division and growth, and increase the risk of cancer;

②Organs tend to be larger and the overall number of cells is larger, and the possibility of cell mutation is also increased;

③ The body has a growth factor similar to insulin. Once activated, it will increase the growth of cells and increase the incidence of cancer;

④The level of insulin growth factor in the body is higher, and the growth of this substance is related to cancer.

Although multiple studies have found that taller people may have shorter lifespans, this is not necessarily the case.

Height is affected by various factors such as heredity, diet, nutritional supplements, exercise, sleep, mood , etc. A large part of it depends on heredity. There is a formula that can help calculate genetic height. You can test it yourself:

• Adult height of son = (height of husband and wife + height of mother + 13cm) / 2
• Adult height of daughter = (height of husband and wife + height of mother - 13cm) / 2

Note that the final value fluctuates around 7cm, and the calculation result is not the final standard.

In a person's life, there are two "golden growth periods" for height, namely before the age of 3 and adolescence .

Therefore, for adolescents in the developmental period, they can seize the opportunity and work hard on nutrition, sleep, exercise, etc., so as to improve their acquired height.

3. Which body type lives longer? Uncovering the "longevity body type" in the eyes of scientists

Whether a person's longevity is affected by a variety of factors, not just height can be controlled, body shape is also a factor.

A study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, covering 30 cohorts in 10 European countries and Australia, selected more than 90,000 adults aged 30 to 74 years, and after 24 years of follow-up, it was finally found that: People with thin waists and big hips had the lowest risk of death compared with people of other sizes .

In addition, these parts of the body may also affect lifespan:

1. Body Mass Index (BMI)

BMI = weight (kg)/height (m) 2, the normal range for adults is between 18.5 and 24, with > 24 being overweight, > 28 being obese, and > 35 being morbidly obese.

2. Body fat rate

That is, the percentage of body fat in the total body weight, male > 25%, female > %, it is obesity, which can increase the risk of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, coronary heart disease and other diseases.

But the body fat rate is too low, less than 5% for men and less than 13% for women, which may lead to physical dysfunction.

3. Waist circumference

The normal waist circumference of men and women is different. Men should be less than 90cm and women should be less than 85cm. Exceeding it is abdominal obesity, which can increase the risk of various metabolic diseases.

4. Thigh circumference

The normal range is 46-60cm. In this range, the larger the thigh circumference, the stronger the leg muscles and the lower the risk of heart disease. But the thigh circumference is too small, male < 51cm, female < 50cm, the risk of high blood pressure increases.

5. Calf circumference

The normal range is >34cm for men and >33cm for women. If women are lower than this value, they are more likely to develop carotid plaque and increase the risk of stroke.

A healthy body is one of the elements of longevity, so if you want to live a long life, keeping your mouth shut and spreading your legs is the easiest and most effective way.

There is a certain relationship between height, body shape and lifespan, but lifespan is affected by many factors. These two factors are not the main ones. If you want to live a long life, it is the key to develop good living and eating habits.

References:

[1] "Boys under 1.5748 meters live the longest? Science shows that higher is not better...". Biological Exploration. 2022-06-20

[2] "Hundred Years of Changes in Global Height: The People of the World Are "Growing Short", and the Chinese People Have Been Growing Taller. Life Times. 2021-06-12

[3] "The average height has grown by 8 cm in 35 years, how did Chinese men do it? ". China News Weekly. 2021-10-17

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