There are numerous factors that increase cancer risk. One of these factors is surprisingly a person’s height.
How is there a correlation there?
What other factors are important?
BBC news reports on a new study.
The study shows a link between height and cancer; tall people generally have a higher risk of getting cancer according to this study.
How was the study conducted?
Researchers had five million participants making the study comprehensive. The results showed that taller people had a higher risk of getting breast and skin cancers.
“Its results found that for every extra 10cm (4in) of height, when fully grown, the risk of developing cancer increased by 18% in women and 11% in men,” according to BBC news.
Researchers pronounced the importance of doing general important things to decrease one’s risk of cancer, the most important things to do are: give up smoking, cut down on alcohol, and adopt a healthy diet and lifestyle.
Researchers followed the participants for more than fifty years. The study’s results are similar to those found by other studies.
Experts were surprised to find that taller women had a 20% higher risk of developing breast cancer, they said, while taller men and women increased their threat of skin cancer (or melanoma) by 30%.
BBC reports, “Dr. Emelie Benyi, who led the study, said the results could help to identify risk factors that could lead to the development of treatments.”
Experts are saying that taller people have more growth factors, which could encourage cancer development; they have more cells in their body because of their size. This fact heightens the threat of one of them turning cancerous, and a higher food intake, which also makes them more at risk of cancer.
Professor Dorothy Bennett, head of the molecular cell sciences research center at St George's, University of London, commented on the findings. She said it was very plausible that the risk of cancer in a person should be related to the number of cells in their body.
She also stated that, “A cancer arises by mutations from a single normal cell. Bigger people have more cells (not bigger cells). So melanoma risk, for example, might be expected to increase with surface area (amount of skin), which is related to the square of height.”
CBS news also reported on surprising cancer risk factors and how to avoid cancer, particularly breast cancer. Breast cancer is the most common cancer worldwide and the second most common cancer among American women (melanoma is first).
Experts are saying that for people with a genetic history of breast cancer there is little they can do, but experts are saying that there are controllable factors too. These include diet, exercise, obesity and a high calorie diet. They are stressing the importance of being physically fit and not drinking heavy amounts of alcohol.
