Tall women are at higher risk for cancer

According to a new study conducted by the University of Oxford and published in The Lancet Oncology , the risk of cancer in women increases by 16% for every 10 centimeters of height above 1.55 meters.

The findings come from analyzing data from more than 1.2 million British women who were followed for close to a decade. The average age of the participants was 56.3 years. The analysis covered 17 types of cancer, but the increased risk was significant in only 10 types, of which breast cancer was the most common . The authors suspect that growth hormone levels could be linked to the development of cancer. Taller people are also likely to be at higher risk for mutations simply because their bodies have more cells. Another possibility the researchers point to is that diet and childhood infections could play an important role in the relationship between height and cancer incidence.