Short stature linked to excess weight and diabetes

Being short in height and especially having shorter legs increases the risk being overweight and developing type 2 diabetes in middle age. Researchers from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore found that adult stature can be helpful in predicting the risk of diabetes independent of other known risk factors. The length of a person's legs is an indicator of childhood nutrition, which may have long-lasting effects on health. Short leg length and low leg length-to-height ratio are two indicators of sub optimal childhood development. The researchers did a cross-sectional analysis of a nationally representative sample of 7,424 adults aged 40–74 years. They studied the relationship between stature-related measurements, amount of body fat and two pre-diabetic conditions - insulin resistance, in which the body is resistant to the blood-sugar regulating hormone insulin, and glucose intolerance, marked by elevated blood sugar levels. It was found that the body fat percentage was significantly higher in women with shorter height, shorter leg length, and lower leg length-to-height ratio, even after considering factors know to influence body fat. A similar pattern was noted in men, although none of the associations reached statistical significance. Lower leg length-to-height ratio, was also associated with greater levels of insulin resistance in subjects without diabetes. All three, body features (shorter height, shorter leg length, and lower leg length-to-height ratio) were associated with a higher prevalence of diabetes. Since adult stature is an indicator of development and growth during early life, the risk of obesity and diabetes in adulthood might begin to occur before puberty. Therefore, interventions to improve childhood nutrition could represent novel means to combat the epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes.