Tall Women and Men Face Increased Risk of Cancer: Study

Tall women face an increased risk of cancer, British researchers said. The study focused on British women and found that for every four inches added risk of cancer increases by 16 percent.

The same thing goes for tall men, the study said. Study co-author and cancer epidemiologist at the University of Oxford in England Dr. Jane Green told Healthday that all the evidence from past studies is that this link is seen equally in men and women.

All the evidence from past studies is that this link is seen equally in men and women, study co-author Dr. Jane Green, a cancer epidemiologist at the University of Oxford in England, told Healthday.

The massive study involved 1.3 million women and was published in Lancet Oncology. The women were divided into six distinct groups according their height. The results held true even when other factors such as age, socioeconomic status, current medications, drinking, and smoking were accounted for.

Researches said that one explanation for the findings is that tall people may inherently have increased levels of growth hormones, increasing risk. Another explanation may be that tall people have more cells than shorter people and more cells means more cells with the potential to become cancerous.

Of course people cannot change their height, Green told the Daily Mail. And being taller has been linked to a lower risk of other conditions, such as heart disease, she added.