Shirley MK, Arthurs OJ, Seunarine KK, Cole TJ, Eaton S, Williams JE, Clark CA, Wells JCK. Implications of leg length for metabolic health and fitness.
Evol Med Public Health 2022;
10:316-324. [PMID:
35903461 PMCID:
PMC9326181 DOI:
10.1093/emph/eoac023]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2021] [Accepted: 06/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Background and objectives
Several studies have linked longer legs with favorable adult metabolic health outcomes and greater offspring birth weight. A recent Mendelian randomization study suggested a causal link between height and cardiometabolic risk; however, the underlying reasons remain poorly understood.
Methodology
Using a cross-sectional design, we tested in a convenience sample of 70 healthy young women whether birth weight and tibia length as markers of early-life conditions associated more strongly with metabolically beneficial traits like organ size and skeletal muscle mass (SMM) than a statistically derived height-residual variable indexing later, more canalized growth.
Results
Consistent with the 'developmental origins of health and disease' hypothesis, we found relatively strong associations of tibia length-but not birth weight-with adult organ size, brain size, SMM and resting energy expenditure measured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and indirect calorimetry, respectively.
Conclusions and implications
Building on prior work, these results suggest that leg length is a sensitive marker of traits directly impacting metabolic and reproductive health. Alongside findings in the same sample relating tibia length and height-residual to MRI-measured pelvic dimensions, we suggest there may exist a degree of coordination in the development of long bone, lean mass and pelvic traits, possibly centered on early, pre-pubertal growth periods. Such phenotypic coordination has important implications for fitness, serving to benefit both adult health and the health of offspring in subsequent generations.
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