标题: Ladies, you don't want to be too tall. [打印本页] 作者: StephenW 时间: 2011-7-21 22:46 标题: Ladies, you don't want to be too tall.
Cancer risk rises for the tall, study says July 22, 2011
The tall and short of cancer.
TALLER people are more likely to develop some of the commonest and deadliest cancers, the largest study of links between height and the disease has concluded.
A woman's chances of developing cancer rose by 16 per cent for every extra 10 centimetres in height, the study found. It looked at 97,000 women with the disease between 1.52 metres and 1.54 metres.
Although height is known to affect cancer risk, this latest research in the Lancet Oncology shows taller women have a higher risk of getting at least 10 types of cancer, more than previously thought. They include breast, bowel, ovarian and skin cancer, leukaemia and malignant melanoma.
In females of average height, the overall incidence is 850 cancers per 100,000 women per year. In those around 1.52 metres it is 750 cancers per 100,000 women per year. But in those around 1.54 metres it is about 1000 cancers per 100,000 women per year.
Researchers led by Dr Jane Green, of Oxford University's cancer epidemiology unit, found that for every extra 10.1 centimetre in height, the risk of breast cancer rose by 17 per cent, of ovarian cancer by the same, and of womb cancer by 19 per cent. The exact reason for the link is unclear and being tall has also been associated with a lower risk of other conditions, notably heart disease. Dr Green's team suggested two theories: that hormones linked to growth in childhood could result in a greater risk of cancer in later years; and that tall people have more chance of cancerous cell changes because they have more cells.
''The most likely explanation is that hormonal changes that are related to tallness in women may also be related to growth abnormalities, especially in the breast, that lead to cancer,'' Professor Karol Sikora, medical director of Cancer Partners UK private treatment centres, said. ''Dietary factors may also be important, especially in relation to the dramatic rise in the incidence of colorectal cancer in tall women.''
Sara Hiom, of Cancer Research UK, said tall people should not be alarmed by these results as their height will have only a small effect on their cancer risk.
Guardian News & Media
The tall and short of cancer. 
