Genetic factors highlight the many ways health and height are linked microbiologystudy

Height is determined by thousands of signals in our genes. Three world experts on human growth, including Associate Professor Louise Bicknell from Otago’s Department of Biochemistry, have undertaken a significant review summarizing published research into the many different types of genetic factors that can influence height in people, and how that affects health.

The paper co-authored by Bicknell, recently published in Nature Reviews Genetics, highlights the many ways health and height are linked.

Bicknell, an expert in rare disorders of growth, says the area is a fast-moving field. “The thousands of different genetic signals that influence our height often act in common processes in our body, including in the growth plate in bones.”

While this might seem obvious, we now have the genetic data to back this up, she says. “The evidence is strong enough that we can use this as a guide when we identify new genetic signals that we are not sure what their function might be.

“We are continually getting more information to learn from, thanks to the global increase in large-scale genetic studies which investigate different aspects of human biology like height.”

Deciphering the genetic basis of height determinants in this way will offer researchers invaluable insight into the biology of body growth and our understanding of conditions where height might be significantly altered.

The review, the most comprehensive yet, has also highlighted that differences in human height are connected to common health conditions.

“We know, for instance, that height has been associated with an altered risk of cancer or cardiometabolic diseases—taller people have a slightly higher chance of developing cancer, whereas shorter people have a slightly higher chance of developing diabetes or heart disease.

“Using the knowledge we’ve now brought together in the review could help to more precisely understand the risk of people getting these conditions, and how to potentially design therapies.”

The review also involved Ravi Savarirayan from Australia, an expert on genetic skeletal conditions, and therapeutic interventions, and Joel Hirschhorn (U.S.), an expert on studying the genetics of height in populations.