Taller individuals appear to be
at a 20-60 percent increased risk of a range of cancers.
"We showed that the link between greater height and increased total cancer risk
is similar across many different populations from Asia, Australasia, Europe, and
North America," said Dr Jane Green, lead author of the study, who is based at
the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at Oxford University. "The link between height and
cancer risk seems to be common to many different types of cancer and in
different people; suggesting that there may be a basic common mechanism, perhaps
acting early in peoples' lives, when they are growing."
Cells are the building blocks of living things. Cancer grows out of normal cells
in the body. Normal cells multiply when the body needs them, and die when the
body doesn't need them. Cancer appears to occur when the growth of cells in the
body is out of control and cells divide too quickly. It can also occur when
cells “forget” how to die.
There are many different kinds of cancers. Cancer can develop in almost any
organ or tissue, such as the lung, colon,
breast, skin, bones, or nerve tissue.
There are many causes of cancers like drinking access alcohol, chemicals
especially benzene, tobacco, radiations, viruses, excessive sun exposure,
Environmental toxins, such as certain poisonous mushrooms and a type of poison
that can grow on peanut plants (aflatoxins), genetic problems etc.
Cancers are primarily an environmental disease with 90-95% of cases attributed
to environmental factors and 5-10% due to genetics. Environmental, as used by
cancer researchers, means any cause that is no genetic. Common environmental
factors that contribute to cancer death include: tobacco (25-30%), diet and
obesity (30-35%), infections (15-20%), radiation (both ionizing and none
ionizing, up to 10%), stress, lack of physical activity and environmental
pollution.
Common symptoms in all cancer patients are as;
• Chill
• Fatigue
• Fever
• Loss of appetite
• Night sweat
• Weight loss
• Malaise
Total cancer risk increased with height, as did the risk of many different types
of cancer. The types of cancers which increased along with height include
cancers of the breast, ovary, womb, bowel, leukaemia, and malignant melanoma.
How is it possible that height increases the risk of cancer? Theories abound,
but the researchers have not been able to pinpoint any as the true cause. One
suggestion is that environmental influences that may cause an individual to grow
taller, such as childhood diet and infections or growth hormones, may be
involved. Another theory is that, because the heights of global populations have
increased in the 20th century, the overall landscape of cancer risk has been
altered.
The researchers used data from the Cancer Research UK-funded Million Women Study
which examined 1.3 million middle-aged women in the United Kingdom. This study
took place between 1996 and 2001 and included factors relevant to cancer, the
incidence of cancer, and personal information such as height. A follow up to the
survey was conducted in 2011, ten years after the survey concluded. Of all
women, 97,000 cases of cancer were identified.
Height has been linked to cancer before but this is the first mass study. It
followed more than one million British women who registered between 1996 and
2001. About 97,000 of these women had developed cancer 10 years later. The study
found that for every 10cm of height, the risk of cancer increased by 16 per
cent.
But Ms Sara Hiom of Cancer Research UK said: "Tall people should not be alarmed
by these results. Most people are not a lot taller than average and their height
will have only a small effect on their cancer risk.
Professor Dame Valerie Berel, head of the cancer epidemiology unit of oxford
have finding in some studies that leg length is the component of height that is
generating the height-cancer associations requires replication. Furthermore, the
differential association of growth factor levels with leg length and trunk
length should be investigated. Such research might provide insight into periods
of life that are critical for the development of cancer risk.
"Of course people cannot change their height," said Dr. Green. "Being taller has
been linked to a lower risk of other conditions, such as heart disease. The
importance of our findings is that they may help us to understand how cancers
develop."