On 2015 Jun 11, thomas samaras commented:

My research conflicts with the mainstream findings that short height is related to greater coronary heart disease. My conclusions are related to human studies based on worldwide research and various ethnic groups.

I have studied the relationship between height, chronic diseases, and longevity for almost 40 years. One of my papers in the Indian Heart Journal (2013) summarized worldwide findings showing shorter people have inherently lower heart disease. In 2014, I had a paper published in the Journal of Scientific Research & Reports that summarized key findings showing shorter people live longer. If tall people had inherently better hearts, then why do today's taller Americans have more coronary heart disease (CHD) compared to the early 1900s when we were a few inches shorter? Also women are shorter than men and have less CHD.

Studies from the 20th C found that many populations were free of CHD and stroke. Papua New Guineans, Kitavans, Kalahari Bushmen, Yanomami, and the Congo pygmies. Obviously, there was nothing wrong with their genes at the time they were studied. I know of no tall, western population that is free of CHD. Of course, the Japanese have had one of the lowest death rates from CHD in the developed world. When Japanese are compared in Japan, Hawaii and California, they see an increase in CHD mortality along with an increase in height.

In 2007, The World Cancer Research Fund reported that until recently, CHD was rare, even among the elderly. However, in parallel with industrial development, we have seen increases in height, weight and chronic disease (which includes CHD).

Many within population studies show that shorter people have lower CHD. These include findings from Hawaii, Sweden, Italy, UK and the US. For example, shorter elderly males were found to have lower CHD compared to taller males based on an over 40-year study of 8000 elderly Hawaiian Japanese males (He et al.). A Harvard study found that the tallest athletes had the highest rates of mortality from CHD compared to shorter athletes and non-athletes (the lowest CHD). Davenport reported that taller WWI military recruits had more heart problems than shorter ones based on 1 million men. In addition, US Asians have the lowest CHD and are the shortest ethnic group. Latinos and Native Americans are taller and have higher CHD. Whites and Blacks have the highest CHD and are the tallest.

Unfortunately, when it comes to human health and mortality, conflicting studies abound. However, confidence in a study's findings should be based on support from different types of studies (e.g., ecological, longitudinal, cross-sectional) that provide consistent results and include populations from different parts of the world and different ethnic groups.

Studies have shown that low income is a risk factor for CHD independent of other risk factors. Poor people tend to be shorter and fatter than higher income groups. A source of error in many studies is failure to compare short and tall people with the same degrees of overweight. Studies have found that shorter people tend to be more overweight than taller people. Thus, a substantial error in findings can be related to failure to compare tall and short people with the same body builds—this requires comparing taller people with higher BMIs vs. shorter people. A 10% taller person should have a 10% taller BMI for the same build type. The 1979 Build Study is the only study that I found which compared similarly overweight short and tall people. They found that the shorter cohort had a slightly lower mortality.

In 2014, a study also found that shorter people live longer (He, et al.) A 2012 study also found shorter men lived longer (Salaris, et al.)

I have reported scores of examples showing that non-Western shorter people have less CHD than taller Westerners. See www.humanbodysize.com for a listing of over 45 papers, book chapters and books expanding on what is discussed here. Some papers and a book related to height and CHD are listed below.

In conclusion, it worth noting Silventoinen's observation: CVD has increased in parallel with the Western diet and increased height.

References:

Samaras TT. Shorter height is related to lower cardiovascular disease risk—A narrative review. Indian Heart Journal 2013; 65: 66-71.

Samaras, TT. Is short height really a risk factor for coronary heart disease and stroke mortality? A review. Med Sci Monit 2004; 10(4): RA63-76.

Samaras TT. Evidence from eight different types of studies showing that smaller body size is related to greater longevity. Journal of Scientific Research & Reports. 2014: 3 (16): 2150-2160, 2014; article no. JSRR.2014.16.003.

Samaras TT. Human Scaling and Body Mass Index. In: Samaras TT (ed): Human Body Size and the Laws of Scaling: Physiological Performance, Growth, Longevity and Ecological Ramifications. New York: Nova Science Pub; 2007: pp 17-32.

He Q, Morris BJ, Grove JS, Petrovitch H, Ross W, Masaki KH, et al. Shorter men live longer: Association of height with longevity and FOXO3 genotype in American men of Japanese ancestry. Plos ONE 9(5): e94385. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0094385.

Salaris L, Poulain M, Samaras TT. Height and survival at older ages among men born in an inland village in Sardinia (Italy), 1866-2006. Biodemography and Social Biology, 58:1, 1-13.

Bartke A. Healthy Aging: Is Smaller better? A mini-review. Gerontology 2012; 58:337-43.

On 2015 Jun 11, thomas samaras commented:

My research conflicts with the mainstream findings that short height is related to greater coronary heart disease. My conclusions are related to human studies based on worldwide research and various ethnic groups.

I have studied the relationship between height, chronic diseases, and longevity for almost 40 years. One of my papers in the Indian Heart Journal (2013) summarized worldwide findings showing shorter people have inherently lower heart disease. In 2014, I had a paper published in the Journal of Scientific Research & Reports that summarized key findings showing shorter people live longer. If tall people had inherently better hearts, then why do today's taller Americans have more coronary heart disease (CHD) compared to the early 1900s when we were a few inches shorter? Also women are shorter than men and have less CHD.

Studies from the 20th C found that many populations were free of CHD and stroke. Papua New Guineans, Kitavans, Kalahari Bushmen, Yanomami, and the Congo pygmies. Obviously, there was nothing wrong with their genes at the time they were studied. I know of no tall, western population that is free of CHD. Of course, the Japanese have had one of the lowest death rates from CHD in the developed world. When Japanese are compared in Japan, Hawaii and California, they see an increase in CHD mortality along with an increase in height.

In 2007, The World Cancer Research Fund reported that until recently, CHD was rare, even among the elderly. However, in parallel with industrial development, we have seen increases in height, weight and chronic disease (which includes CHD).

Many within population studies show that shorter people have lower CHD. These include findings from Hawaii, Sweden, Italy, UK and the US. For example, shorter elderly males were found to have lower CHD compared to taller males based on an over 40-year study of 8000 elderly Hawaiian Japanese males (He et al.). A Harvard study found that the tallest athletes had the highest rates of mortality from CHD compared to shorter athletes and non-athletes (the lowest CHD). Davenport reported that taller WWI military recruits had more heart problems than shorter ones based on 1 million men. In addition, US Asians have the lowest CHD and are the shortest ethnic group. Latinos and Native Americans are taller and have higher CHD. Whites and Blacks have the highest CHD and are the tallest.

Unfortunately, when it comes to human health and mortality, conflicting studies abound. However, confidence in a study's findings should be based on support from different types of studies (e.g., ecological, longitudinal, cross-sectional) that provide consistent results and include populations from different parts of the world and different ethnic groups.

Studies have shown that low income is a risk factor for CHD independent of other risk factors. Poor people tend to be shorter and fatter than higher income groups. A source of error in many studies is failure to compare short and tall people with the same degrees of overweight. Studies have found that shorter people tend to be more overweight than taller people. Thus, a substantial error in findings can be related to failure to compare tall and short people with the same body builds—this requires comparing taller people with higher BMIs vs. shorter people. A 10% taller person should have a 10% taller BMI for the same build type. The 1979 Build Study is the only study that I found which compared similarly overweight short and tall people. They found that the shorter cohort had a slightly lower mortality.

In 2014, a study also found that shorter people live longer (He, et al.) A 2012 study also found shorter men lived longer (Salaris, et al.)

I have reported scores of examples showing that non-Western shorter people have less CHD than taller Westerners. See www.humanbodysize.com for a listing of over 45 papers, book chapters and books expanding on what is discussed here. Some papers and a book related to height and CHD are listed below.

In conclusion, it worth noting Silventoinen's observation: CVD has increased in parallel with the Western diet and increased height.

References:

Samaras TT. Shorter height is related to lower cardiovascular disease risk—A narrative review. Indian Heart Journal 2013; 65: 66-71.

Samaras, TT. Is short height really a risk factor for coronary heart disease and stroke mortality? A review. Med Sci Monit 2004; 10(4): RA63-76.

Samaras TT. Evidence from eight different types of studies showing that smaller body size is related to greater longevity. Journal of Scientific Research & Reports. 2014: 3 (16): 2150-2160, 2014; article no. JSRR.2014.16.003.

Samaras TT. Human Scaling and Body Mass Index. In: Samaras TT (ed): Human Body Size and the Laws of Scaling: Physiological Performance, Growth, Longevity and Ecological Ramifications. New York: Nova Science Pub; 2007: pp 17-32.

He Q, Morris BJ, Grove JS, Petrovitch H, Ross W, Masaki KH, et al. Shorter men live longer: Association of height with longevity and FOXO3 genotype in American men of Japanese ancestry. Plos ONE 9(5): e94385. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0094385.

Salaris L, Poulain M, Samaras TT. Height and survival at older ages among men born in an inland village in Sardinia (Italy), 1866-2006. Biodemography and Social Biology, 58:1, 1-13.

Bartke A. Healthy Aging: Is Smaller better? A mini-review. Gerontology 2012; 58:337-43.