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Longevity, body weight and height, page 2 of 2

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Your lifespan and body height (cont'd...)

How long are you going to live? There is another great study; it was published in the March 2003 issue of Life Sciences. It's a scientific analysis of how your mortality depends on your body height. Why did the scientists conduct the study? A) Because, over the last 100 years, studies have given mixed results on the mortality of tall and short people. (2)

And B) because, based on relatively homogeneous deceased population samples during the last 30 years, several researchers have found a negative correlation between height and longevity. (2)

Therefore, scientists concluded that, based on millions of deaths, A) shorter, smaller bodies have lower death rates and fewer diet-related chronic diseases, and B) shorter people also have longer than average lifespans. (2)

The authors also concluded that the difference in longevity between the sexes was due to height differences. Because, on average, men were approximately 8.0 percent taller than women, and had a 7.9 percent lower life expectancy at birth. Animal experiments also showed that smaller animals within the same species lived longer. (2)

In recent years, the relationship between height and health has become increasingly more important because, in the near future, genetic engineering will offer parents the opportunity to increase the heights of their children. The authors contend we shouldn't be swept into a new world of increasingly taller generations, without carefully considering the impact of a worldwide population of taller and heavier people. (2)

Sources and references

(1) "Longevity, mortality and body weight" by TT1 Samaras, et al., Ageing Res Rev. 2002 Sep;1(4):673-91,
PMID 12208237.

(2) "Is height related to longevity?" by TT1 Samaras, et al., Life Sci. 2003 Mar 7;72(16):1781-802,
PMID 12586217.

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