colorectal #2
世界各国の身長を調査した研究が公開されました。この調査は，1914年から実施されております。調査の結果，世界で最も平均身長が高いのはオランダの男性183cmです。反対に最も身長が低いのはグアテマラの女性140cmというものでした。
記事の中で気になった単語は"colorectal"です。Oxford Dictionariesには"Relating to or affecting the colon and the rectum"と定義されております。"colon"は，「｟解剖｠ 結腸」，"rectum"は「｟医｠ 直腸」という言意味です(『Wisdom英和辞典第三版』(第三版))。身長を決める要因の多くは外部環境であり，DNAは外部環境よりは身長に影響を及ぼさないようです。その証拠に，韓国では1914年と2014年を比べて20cm以上も女性の平均身長が高くなっております。たかが100年ほどでDNAが変化することはないと専門家は指摘しております。(Ume)
Dutch men revealed as world's tallest
Lead scientist Majid Ezzati, also from Imperial, told BBC News: "About a third of the explanation could be genes, but that doesn't explain the change over time. Genes don't change that fast and they don't vary that much across the world. So changes over time and variations across the world are largely environmental. That's at the whole population level versus for any individual whose genes clearly matter a lot."
Good standards of healthcare, sanitation, and nutrition were the key drivers, he said. Also important is the mother's health and nutrition during pregnancy.
Other research has shown that height is correlated with both positive outcomes and a few negative ones.
Tall people tend to have a longer life expectancy, with a reduced risk of heart disease. On the other hand, there is some evidence that they are at greater risk of certain cancers, such as colorectal, postmenopausal breast and ovarian cancers.
