Health

Long Legged Women Have Healthier Livers!

It could be about childhood diet

By Stefan Anitei, Science Editor

19th of December 2007, 09:35 GMT

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Are you turned on by long-legged women? In this case, you really prefer healthier women. A complex British research, made at the Bristol University and published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, has found that women with shorter legs display a higher vulnerability to liver disease. The study was carried on 4,300 female subjects, aged 60 to 79, coming from 43 localities and selected from the British Women's Health and Heart Study.

The researchers, led by Dr Abigail Fraser, discovered that the shorter-legged women presented

higher amounts of four liver enzymes, which are markers of the liver health (its functioning and damage estate).

"There is a growing body of evidence to link leg length and health", signaled the authors.

The subjects were measured for both leg length and full height values, while the levels of the enzymes ALT, GGT, ALP and AST were assessed from blood samples. The length of the legs was negatively correlated with the amounts of three of these enzymes. The researchers connected the results to environmental factors during the growth.

"Our interpretation of the results is that childhood exposures, such as good nutrition that influence growth patterns also influence liver development and therefore levels of liver enzymes in adulthood and/or the propensity for liver damage", wrote the authors.

"Greater height may boost the size of the liver, which may decrease enzyme levels so ensuring that the liver is able to withstand chemical onslaught more effectively. This is a very interesting study and we would be keen to see any further research relating to these initial findings", said a spokesperson from the British Liver Trust.

"The study clearly asserts the importance of a healthy lifestyle particularly from a young age. We would like to encourage everyone to maintain a healthy diet in order to prevent themselves from fatty liver disease - something which is not alcohol related - which affects an estimated 20 % of the people in the UK."

TAGS:

leg | liver | diet | child

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User opinions:

Comment #1 by: Morgen on 21 Jan 2008, 23:49 GMT	reply to this comment
I don't think they did enough research at all...You can't say that just because someone has long legs that they are automatically healthier. I have short legs, but I am not overweight, I eat well and I do not have any sort of liver problems. I think we have enough of the media telling us that if we aren't as tall as super models that we are unattractive. It's a complete insult, not a real study.

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