Study Shows Tall People Have Higher Risk for Colorectal Cancer

A recent meta-analysis or data assessment of numerous independent studies conducted by Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers adds to evidence that taller people may be more likely than shorter adults to acquire colorectal cancer or colon polyps that can later become cancerous.

While the link between taller height and colorectal cancer has previously been studied, the Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers claim that previous studies produced contradictory results, used inconsistent height measurements, and failed to account for the risk of adenomas, which are premalignant colon polyps.

The adult height that represents growth

According to ScienceDaily, one explanation for this relationship might be because adult height correlates with bodily organ size.

According to Elinor Zhou, M.D., co-first author of the published survey findings, more active proliferation in taller people's organs may raise the potential of mutations leading to malignant transformation.

The authors of the meta-analysis, which was published on March 2 in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, first outlined 47 international investigations involving 280,660 cases of colorectal cancer and 14,139 cases of colorectal adenoma, as per Xinhua.

They also used original information from the Johns Hopkins Colon Biofilm project, which enrolled 1,459 adult patients having outpatient colonoscopies to investigate the link between cancer and microorganisms attached to the colon's walls, known as a biofilm.

Does tallness have a high risk for cancer?

Since tallness is defined differently across the world, the Johns Hopkins researchers analyzed the highest versus lowest height percentiles of various study groups.

According to the data, the tallest people in the highest percentile of height had a 24% greater chance of having colorectal cancer than the shortest people in the lowest percentile.

According to Mullin, every 10-centimeter (approximately 4inches) increase in height is connected with a 14% greater chance of acquiring colorectal cancer and a 6% increased risk of having adenomas.

The percentage results were adjusted on demographic, socioeconomic, behavioral, and other known colorectal cancer risk factors.

Non-modifiable risk factors include age, a personal or family history of colorectal cancer or benign growths, and a personal history of chronic irritable bowel syndrome.

More than half of all colorectal cancers in the United States are connected to modifiable lifestyle factors, such as a poor diet, insufficient physical exercise, smoking, and excessive alcohol intake.

Although not directly comparable due to measuring scale differences, tallness may confer an increasing pattern of colorectal cancer risk comparable to better-known modifiable variables, such as cigarette smoking, moderate alcohol drinking, and a highly processed red meat diet.

According to the World Cancer Research Fund International, it's vital to remember that being tall isn't always a bad thing.

Being taller looks to be advantageous in terms of several other illnesses.

When compared to shorter individuals, babies born big and taller people had a lower risk of diabetes, strokes, and heart attacks than adults.

This is why it is critical to do further study to better uncover the pathways that contribute to these various adult health hazards.

We can provide better guidance to young women and parents in both developed and developing nations if we can identify optimum development patterns that reduce the risk of all of these chronic illnesses, as well as the best feeding habits to promote them.