Rare Form of Dwarfism Could Protect One From Cancer and Diabetes [Study]

Rare Form of Dwarfism Could Protect One From Cancer and Diabetes [Study]
(Photo : Wikimedia Commons/Xavier020)

A certain form of dwarfism is reportedly resistant to cancer. Researchers have learned that those with Laron syndrome don't have cancer.

Rare Form of Dwarfism Makes One Resistant To Cancer and Diabetes

In the new study, a team of scientists from California and Ecuador followed people with Laron syndrome for 20 years. They learned that they have lower blood sugar, insulin resistance, and blood pressure compared to their relatives who don't have the condition.

In addition, it was discovered that the study participants' hearts were smaller than those of their relatives and that their levels of arterial plaque-a material that narrows arteries and can cause heart attacks, heart failure, or blood clots-were lower.

In a rural region of Ecuador, adults with dwarfism were the first to be diagnosed with Laron syndrome. Another name for it is growth hormone receptor deficiency, or simply GHRD.

Despite the fact that people with Laron syndrome typically have high growth hormone levels, their bodies are unable to generate the hormone's target due to a genetic defect. Receptors are targets that function similarly to locks.

Dr. Jaime Guevara-Aguirre, co-lead study author, was taken aback to discover that Laron syndrome appeared to offer cancer prevention when he initially began researching the illness. Ultimately, increased growth hormone levels have been consistently associated with cancer, at least in the majority of cases.

"We've discovered that people with Laron simply don't get cancer," said Dr Jaime Guevara-Aguirre, an endocrinologist at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador. "Cancer can be detected in their relatives of a normal size, but never in my patients - not one single case."

The majority of those with Laron syndrome are from Ecuador, where the average heights for men and women are among the lowest in the world at five feet, six inches and five feet and one inch, respectively.

These people don't typically consider themselves to be particularly short because of this.

Men and women with Laron typically stand four feet, six inches tall, and four feet, seven inches tall, respectively.

However, many of them are aware that they have a unique biological makeup. Nathaly Paola Castro Torres said that her height problem was part of her personality, and she was lucky because it protected her from a lot of diseases. So, for her, being short was reportedly a blessing.

ALSO READ: Do Short People Live Longer? Here's the Impact of Height on Life Span

Short People Live Longer

A 2003 study using data from millions of deaths found a negative correlation between height and longevity. The study's conclusions indicate that shorter people seem to live longer than their taller counterparts. It also found that "shorter, smaller bodies have lower death rates and fewer diet-related chronic diseases, especially past middle age."

The same findings were also reached by another study carried out in 1992. The purpose of the study was to evaluate a part of the entropy hypothesis of aging, which suggests that an increase in internal disorder causes aging and that an individual's life expectancy declines with mass.

The first evaluation of the association between human size and longevity or life span, conducted in 1978, found that shorter, lighter men live longer than their taller, heavier counterparts, based on figures for fewer groups of athletes and well-known Americans. A 1990 study with 1679 men and women from the general American population supported these findings.