For every 10 centimeters of additional height, there was a 41% lower risk of type 2 diabetes in men and 33% in women , according to the study that has been published in the journal Diabetologia .
Researchers, from the German Center for Diabetes Research and the German Institute for Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke , both in Germany, adjusted the results in order to eliminate the possible effects of age, education, lifestyle and age. waist size at risk of diabetes. They suggest that the inverse relationship between height and risk of type 2 diabetes could be due to less fat accumulation in the liver and more favorable cardiometabolic risk factors, “specifically blood fats, adiponectin and C-reactive protein”, comment authors.
In those with a body mass index (BMI) in the overweight or obese range, the risk of type 2 diabetes was reduced by 36% in men and 30% in women for every additional 10 cm of height.
“This may indicate that an increased risk of diabetes with a larger waist circumference counteracts beneficial effects related to height, regardless of whether the larger waist circumference is due to growth or an energy imbalance,” the experts clarify.
Short stature and type 2 diabetes
The researchers drew on records of 27,548 participants who were enrolled in the European Prospective Research on Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study in Potsdam in Germany during 1994-1998. Of these participants, 16,644 were women between the ages of 35 and 65 and 10,904 were men between the ages of 40 and 65 . For their analysis, the experts randomly selected a representative sample of about 10% of the cohort.
The new findings reinforce previous research that also linked short stature with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Such findings would suggest that height could be used to predict type 2 diabetes risk.
Other height factors
However, the new study sought not only to examine the relationship between height and type 2 diabetes, but also to take a closer look at two key components in height: leg length and sitting height.
The researchers found that for men, there was a strong connection between longer leg length and a lower risk of type 2 diabetes. In women, however, both height and leg length contributed to this effect.
These findings would suggest, according to the authors, that growth before puberty has a more significant effect in men on lower risk of diabetes than growth after puberty. They base this on the assumption that the leg bones stop growing earlier than the trunk bones. However, for women, it appears that both growth before and after puberty contribute to reducing the risk of diabetes.
Liver fat
Among their analyzes, the researchers calculated to what extent liver fat and other cardiometabolic risk factors might explain the relationship between height and type 2 diabetes. They found that when they eliminated the potential effect of liver fat content, the reduction in risk of type 2 diabetes for each additional 10 cm of height in men was 34% (compared to 41% total) and 13% in women (compared to 33% total).
Putting these results together, the researchers suggest that much of the favorable effect of higher height on reduced risk of type 2 diabetes likely comes from taller people who have lower liver fat content and more favorable cardiometabolic risk profiles. . They state that their findings point to the need to include the cardiometabolic profile, along with height, as a useful predictor for diabetes risk.
They advise that physicians should perhaps monitor cardiometabolic risk more frequently in people of short stature, even if their body size and composition may indicate otherwise.
“Our study also suggests that early interventions to reduce height-related metabolic risk throughout life likely need to target growth determinants at sensitive periods during pregnancy, early childhood, puberty, and early adulthood. and they must take into account possible sexual differences “, conclude the authors.
Reference: Wittenbecher, C., Kuxhaus, O., Boeing, H. et al. Diabetology (2019). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00125-019-04978-8
