Shorter people live longer: Study

A group of researchers in the US, after conducting a study recently, have said they have found evidence which supports the claim that people with short physical structure live longer than the bigger ones. ‘People of smaller structures are likely to live longer, with those under 5 feet 2 inches having a greater chance of surviving to old age,’ they said following a study which has shown that adult men under 5-foot-2 live longer than their taller rivals, with one researcher explaining: ‘The taller you got, the shorter you lived.’ His team, at the University of Hawaii, found that shorter men were more likely to have a protective form of the longevity gene, FOXO3, leading to smaller body size during early development and a longer lifespan. Dr Bradley Willcox, from the Department of Geriatric Medicine, said the scientists had split people into two groups: those who were 5-foot-2-inch and shorter, and 5-foot-4 and taller. ‘The folks that were five-foot-two and shorter lived the longest,’ he said. ‘The range was seen all the way across from being five-foot tall to six-foot tall. The taller you got, the shorter you lived.’ He added: "This study shows for the first time, that body size is linked to the FOXO3 gene. The study involved more than 8,000 American men of Japanese ancestry born between the years 1900 and 1919. The lifestyles and health conditions of these men were closely followed and studied by the researchers through the years, according to Telegraph Online.