Publication of Interest – Oct 2020
"Biodemography and Social Biology:" Samaras TT. (2020) Height and longevity—a changing viewpoint. WJPPS, 9 (9): 570-574
www.wipps.com controller/abstract id/12979
Samaras, T. T., Marson, S. M., & Lillis, J. P. (2019). International Data Demonstrating the Inverse Height and Life Expectancy Between the Sexes: Height and life expectancy.
SOCIALSCI JOURNAL, 4, 1-9. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335526858_International_Data_Demonstrating_the_Inverse_Height_and_Life_Expectancy_Between_the_Sexes
Wilhelmsen Wilhelmsen and collegues tracked 67-year old men to 80 years of age and found that men who were shorter at 67 years tend to have better survival that taller men. See page 8 in Wilhelmsen L, Svardsudd K, Eriksson H, et al. Factors associated with reaching 90 years of age: a study of men born in 1913 in Gothenburg, Sweden. J Intern Med 2011; 269:441-451. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-2796.2010.02331.x
"Biodemography and Social Biology" recently published a new paper on height and the longevity of Sardinian men.
This study supports over 12 previous longevity and over 20 mortality studies that have found that shorter height promotes greater longevity. Sardinia is known as a blue zone because it has a remarkably high percentage of long-lived people.
Sardinians are shorter than people in the rest of Europe and tend to live longer. Within Sardinia, there is a group of 14 municipalities that exhibit higher longevity compared to the rest of the island. In addition, as height declines among these municipalities, longevity increases with the shortest municipaliity, Villagrande Strisaili, having the greatest longevity. Professor Poulain, University of Louvain (Belgium) and Dr. Salaris, University of Cagliari (Italy), led a study to determine whether there was a relationship between height and longevity among almost 500 males born between 1866 and 1915. Thomas Samaras, a San Diego longevity researcher, coauthored the paper. Their research found that shorter men lived about 2 years longer than taller men. The results of the study were published in the journal, Biodemography and Social Biology (4/26/12).
This Sardinian study is consistent with a study conducted in Spain by Dr. Holzenberger. This study tracked 1.3 million men through a 70-year period and found that longevity increased with reduced height. Similar results were found in an Ohio study by Professor Dennis Miller based on about 1700 men and women. Samaras, a longevity researcher, found similar results based on baseball players, California veterans, football players, basketball players and famous people. Professor Krakauer also found that shorter elderly Swedish men and women live longer. A recent review by Professor Bartke appeared in Gerontology which supports these findings as well: DOI: 10.1159/000335166
Salaris and Poulain reported that height is only one factor in how long anyone will live. It probably constitutes less than 10% of anyone’s longevity profile. Regardless of height, anyone can extend his or her longevity by healthful nutrition, low body weight, exercise, good medical care, a positive and happy spirit, and good social relations. Therefore, tall people have the potential to reach 100 years under the right conditions.
