Hmmm...
Posted on 05/05/2008 9:28:23 PM PDT by blam
Short Arms And Legs Linked To Risk Of Dementia, Study Shows
ScienceDaily (May 6, 2008) — People with shorter arms and legs may be at a higher risk for developing dementia later in life compared to people with longer arms and legs, according to a study published in the May 6, 2008, bonus issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Researchers say the association between short limbs and dementia risk may be due to poor nutrition in early life, which can affect limb growth.
Several studies have shown that early life environment plays an important role in susceptibility to chronic disease later in life. "Body measures such as knee height and arm span are often used as biological indicators of early life deficits, such as a lack of nutrients," said Tina L. Huang, PhD, who was with Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, when the study started. Huang is now with the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston, MA. "Because the development of the brain region most severely affected by Alzheimer's disease coincides with the greatest change in limb length, we thought it was possible that men and women with shorter limbs could be at greater risk for developing dementia and Alzheimer's disease."
Researchers from the Cardiovascular Health Cognition Study followed 2,798 people for an average of five years and took knee height and arm span measurements. Most participants were white with an average age of 72. By the end of the study, 480 developed dementia.
Researchers found women with the shortest arm spans were 1.5 times more likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer's disease than women with longer arm spans. For every inch longer a woman's leg, the risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease was reduced by 16 percent.
In men, only arm span was associated with a lower risk of dementia. With every increased inch in arm span, men had a six-percent decrease in risk of dementia. The associations with such measures in men and women were stronger toward Alzheimer's disease compared to other types of dementia.
Huang says there is a strong correlation between height and socioeconomic background, and trends are reflected as early as the first two years of life. "Reduced height for age, or stunting, is thought to be most closely tied to environment and the quality of diet in early life, which corresponds with periods of the fastest leg growth," said Huang. "As a result, environment in the first years of life may play an important role in determining future dementia risk."
"Our findings are consistent with other studies that have been done in Korean populations, where shorter limb length was associated with greater risk of dementia," said Huang.
The study was supported by grants from the National Institute on Aging, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the National Institutes of Health.
Adapted from materials provided by American Academy of Neurology.
Probably explains why Yosemite Sam is the way he is.
I’ve got long arms and short legs. Great for swinging from trees.
People can go nuts from trying to reach stuff on high shelves.
Gee, perhaps they forgot about Ronald Reagan.
So if they tell you your arms are too short to box with God, they mean you’re nuts.
These “studies” (Read: Income Grants) are BS.
Remember the ones in the ‘80s? Any man with male pattern baldness or creased earlobes ( or, God Forbid, a combination of the two) was destined to die of a heart attack by age 50.
Many MDs are brilliant. Unfortunately many are like shrinks; worse off than half of their patients.
I have monkey arms. I guess (with enough chocolate and wine and coffee...for the antioxidants, doncha know) I’m gonna live forever.
But they say if you’re short you live longer. My wife’s 4’10”, so odds are she’ll live to be 110 and be nuttier than squirrel poo.
Er...and be sharp as a tack until the end. Maybe by then I’ll have the patience to actually read articles with care. ;-)
So it’s all about eating a mediterranean diet and getting plenty of fresh air and exercise.
Nothing to do with the KTHULU gene and the LRRP5 gene after all.
Hmmm...
dream up a scenario...make your data comply ...that's what modern research has come too....
I am waiting for the study about how long a man's penis is can predict his height, his weight, how much money he'll make in his life, how successful his kids will be and how long he will live....waiting, waiting, waiting...
At 5'3" I'm a little short on one end. So I use my long kitchen tongs as arm extenders. They work pretty well, actually. Don't try it with heavy stuff, of course, but spice bottles and Tabasco sauce are easy prey.
The "payback" for the analysis is identification of foods that are "healthy" vs foods to be avoided for the genotype. Recommendations for ideal vitamins, supplements and exercise patterns are also provided.
The book caused me to take a completely new view of how higher organisms achieve their final form. Genetics is just a starting point. The epigenetic exposures during gestation can induce significant shifts in the final product. "Identical" twins don't have the same fingerprint as fingerprints are a running "log" of exposures to hormones and nutrients.
I mapped out as a "Hunter". My fingerprints bear fine crossing lines (like razor cuts) that appear as "white lines" in a fingerprint. My ridge are fairly flat as well. It turns out that those characteristics are observed in people with digestive problems and gluten intolerance. That was no surprise...just consistent with other symptoms and experience.
LOL :)
Don’t let the Democrat National Committee find out about this before election day.
Short arms and legs are also linked to dwarfism.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.