WASHINGTON - Women with short legs may have a higher risk of liver
disease, with both probably caused by diet or other factors early in life,
British researchers reported on Monday.
Their study of 3,600 women showed that the shorter a woman's legs were, the more
likely she was to have signs of liver damage.
The findings fit in with other studies linking leg length with diabetes and
heart disease, Abigail Fraser of the University of Bristol and colleagues said.
"Adult liver function is affected by early life environmental exposures as
reflected in leg length, and this may suggest common childhood influences on
liver development and adult risk of diabetes and coronary heart disease," they
wrote.
Fraser's team looked at women aged 60 to 79 who were taking part in a larger
health study. They measured their leg length as compared to trunk length and
also measured four liver enzymes: alanine aminotransferase, gamma-glutamyltransferase,
aspartate transaminase and alkaline phosphatase.
"Each of these markers reflects a different aspect of potential liver damage,"
they wrote in their report, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and
Community Health.
Leg length can point to how well a person was nourished in early childhood. "In
particular, evidence shows that breast-feeding, high-energy intake at four years
and childhood affluent socioeconomic position are all associated with longer
adult leg length," Fraser's team wrote.
The findings held even when Fraser's team took into account smoking, drinking
and other behaviors that can damage a person's liver.
Source : Reuters 2007
