Large or small, body size can also have an impact on the risk of illness. The fact that people are getting taller is statistically proven: German men measured an average of 1.67 meters in 1896, but almost 1.80 meters in 2021. For women, the figure climbed from 1.56 to 1.66 meters during this period. Of course, the decisive factor is how health-conscious someone spends their everyday life. However, size also matters.
Diabetes: Tall people have an advantage here. Because the genetic factors for body growth are related, according to the professor for clinical-experimental diabetology at the University Hospital Tübingen, Norbert Stefan, with less fat content in the liver and better insulin sensitivity. These two factors ensure that adults are less likely to develop diabetes. Small people, on the other hand, have a poorer utilization of glucose, which means that they are more likely to develop diabetes on average.
An evaluation from May 2023 also came to the same conclusion: The larger women and men in all age groups are, the less likely they are to get type 2 diabetes. Risk factors for this are also severe obesity and lack of exercise. Karel Kostev, scientific head of epidemiological research at the contract research institute IQVIA, examined the data of 780,000 adult patients with a team of internists from the University Hospital Düsseldorf.
Their conclusion: For every ten centimeters less in height, the risk of developing type 2 diabetes increases by 15 percent in women and by 10 percent in men. However, there are no connections between body size and the development of type 1 diabetes, which often begins in childhood or adolescence due to an absolute lack of the hormone insulin.
Another German study in 2019 came to the conclusion that short people have an increased risk of type 2 diabetes – regardless of their body fat mass.
Heart: Height can also affect the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. For this purpose, the data from almost 660,000 patients was evaluated by the University Hospital Düsseldorf – with the result: Smaller women and men are more likely than large ones to develop high blood pressure or have a stroke in which brain tissue dies.
According to Prof. Stefan from Tübingen, tall people have several advantages. He lists: “Fatty acids less, LDL cholesterol lower, glucose lower and hepatokines (liver proteins) cheaper.” This means that tall people have a lower risk of heart attack.
In the data set from Düsseldorf, short women and men had a higher risk of coronary heart disease, in which blood vessels are narrowed, which also increases the risk of heart attacks. According to the study, for every ten centimeter increase in height, the risk of this decreases by nine percent in women and 13 percent in men. In contrast, taller women and men have a higher risk of atrial fibrillation, according to this data set.
Thrombosis: Tall people are clearly at a disadvantage here. “The longer the extremities, the longer the blood has to be pumped up to the heart,” explains Prof. Stefan. According to him, up to 90 percent of the thrombosis occurs in the deep veins of the legs and can lead to a pulmonary embolism.
Colleague Kostev and the team of internists in Düsseldorf also come to the conclusion that the risk of illness increases by 23 percent for every ten centimeters of height. A look at a Swedish analysis from 2017 also shows that tall people have a higher risk of thrombosis.
US researchers also came to the conclusion that tall people have a higher risk of atrial fibrillation and varicose veins, which can promote the development of thrombosis. To do this, the team from the University of Colorado analyzed information on more than 250,000 adults for more than 1,000 diseases and characteristics.
Cancer: When it comes to cancer, there is also a connection between body size and the frequency of the disease. The comparison of the data by the University Hospital Düsseldorf showed that larger patients are more susceptible. The risk increases by 11 percent in women and by 6 percent in men for every ten centimeters of increase in height.
Prof. Stefan sees one reason for people getting taller, among other things, in the increased consumption of dairy products and red meat. In this context, he refers to China, where height has been increasing for years.
Excessive animal protein consumption activates growth genes (especially those for the growth factors IGF-1 and IGF-2) and regulates them upwards. Diabetologist Stefan describes this as “fertilizer for the cells”. This would make children larger in the womb and as adults. The connection to cancer comes from lifelong stronger cell growth, which is promoted by IGF-1 and IGF-2 and increases the risk of developing the disease.
However, researchers also found a link between size and the incidence of certain types of cancer. Prof. Stefan names the three most common in tall people: black skin cancer, colon and breast cancer.
Back: “A connection between body size and low back pain is always postulated, but has not been proven,” says Bernd Kladny, Secretary General of the German Society for Orthopedics and Orthopedic Surgery. The load is higher for tall people, for example when they bend forward and pick something up, “but they also have a different anatomy with stronger muscles than short people”. There are many factors that contribute to back pain.
