Scientists have found that with every additional centimeter of height above average, a person's risk of developing cancer will also increase. This was reported in the journal The Lancet Oncology. For every 10 cm of height above normal, women's risk of tumors such as breast cancer increases by 16%, researchers found.
Approximately the same ratio, according to researchers, should be observed among men. Previously, science has already found a connection between high growth and the risk of developing certain types of cancer, such as breast cancer in women and testicular cancer in men, but now scientists have found that this phenomenon is not limited to certain types of disease.
This suggests that in the human body there is some kind of single basic mechanism for triggering tumors, which is involved even at an early stage of life, when people are just starting to grow.
However, tall people should not despair. Firstly, their tall height is a given by nature, and it cannot be changed. Secondly, thanks to it, they are less likely to suffer from some other dangerous diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases.
Apparently, the level of hormones that relate to human growth is behind the increased risk of developing tumors. In addition, purely arithmetically, tall people have more cells in the body, which means there is a higher probability of transforming some part of them into malignant ones.
However, scientists have so far conducted observations only of women. But the researchers believe that among tall men, a similar relationship between height and tumor risk also occurs.