Being shorter in height, and especially having a shorter leg length, can put men at a higher risk of type 2 diabetes. This finding published recently in the journal Diabetologia, this conclusion corroborates several previous studies which have noticed similar links between the risk of type 2 diabetes and shorter leg length as compared to height. [1]
Comprising of 2500 participants, the case-cohort study was designed within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Apart from overall height, it aimed to study associations between sitting height as well as leg length with type 2 diabetes risk. It further suggests that these associations might be influenced by factors such as a lower liver fat content as well as a more favorable cardiometabolic profile in people with a greater height.
Amongst women, adjustments for liver fat, triacylglycerols, adiponectin, and C-reactive protein were found to substantially attenuate these associations between type 2 diabetes and height.
