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Leg Length, Body Proportion, and Health: A Review with a Note on Beauty

Author

Listed:
  • Barry Bogin

    (Health & Lifespan Research Centre, School of Sport, Exercise & Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK)

  • Maria Inês Varela-Silva

    (Health & Lifespan Research Centre, School of Sport, Exercise & Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK)

Abstract

Decomposing stature into its major components is proving to be a useful strategy to assess the antecedents of disease, morbidity and death in adulthood. Human leg length (femur + tibia), sitting height (trunk length + head length) and their proportions, for example, (leg length/stature), or the sitting height ratio (sitting height/stature × 100), among others) are associated with epidemiological risk for overweight (fatness), coronary heart disease, diabetes, liver dysfunction and certain cancers. There is also wide support for the use of relative leg length as an indicator of the quality of the environment for growth during infancy, childhood and the juvenile years of development. Human beings follow a cephalo-caudal gradient of growth, the pattern of growth common to all mammals. A special feature of the human pattern is that between birth and puberty the legs grow relatively faster than other post-cranial body segments. For groups of children and youth, short stature due to relatively short legs ( i.e. , a high sitting height ratio) is generally a marker of an adverse environment. The development of human body proportions is the product of environmental x genomic interactions, although few if any specific genes are known. The HOXd and the short stature homeobox-containing gene (SHOX) are genomic regions that may be relevant to human body proportions. For example, one of the SHOX related disorders is Turner syndrome. However, research with non-pathological populations indicates that the environment is a more powerful force influencing leg length and body proportions than genes. Leg length and proportion are important in the perception of human beauty, which is often considered a sign of health and fertility.

Suggested Citation

  • Barry Bogin & Maria Inês Varela-Silva, 2010. "Leg Length, Body Proportion, and Health: A Review with a Note on Beauty," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-29, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:7:y:2010:i:3:p:1047-1075:d:7421
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Smith, Patricia K. & Bogin, Barry & Varela-Silva, Maria Ines & Loucky, James, 2003. "Economic and anthropological assessments of the health of children in Maya immigrant families in the US," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 1(2), pages 145-160, June.
    2. Patricia K. Smith & Barry Bogin & M. Inês Varela–Silva & Bibiana Orden & James Loucky, 2002. "Does Immigration Help or Harm Children’s Health? The Mayan Case," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 83(4), pages 994-1002, December.
    3. Dennis M. Bramble & Daniel E. Lieberman, 2004. "Endurance running and the evolution of Homo," Nature, Nature, vol. 432(7015), pages 345-352, November.
    4. Dasgupta, Parasmani & Saha, Rana & Nubé, Maarten, 2008. "Changes in body size, shape and nutritional status of Middle-Class Bengali boys of Kolkata, India, 1982-2002," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 75-94, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Thijs G. W. van der Heijden & Felix P. Chilunga & Karlijn A. C. Meeks & Juliet Addo & Ina Danquah & Erik J. Beune & Silver K. Bahendeka & Kerstin Klipstein-Grobusch & Frank P. Mockenhaupt & Mitzi M. W, 2021. "The Magnitude and Directions of the Associations between Early Life Factors and Metabolic Syndrome Differ across Geographical Locations among Migrant and Non-Migrant Ghanaians—The RODAM Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-17, November.
    2. Barry Bogin & Michael Hermanussen & Werner F. Blum & Christian Aßmann, 2015. "Sex, Sport, IGF-1 and the Community Effect in Height Hypothesis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-17, May.

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