TALLER men are less likely to suffer from dementia, a study claims.
Researchers found that for every 6cm (2.3in) above average height reduces risk by ten per cent.
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Height continues to be a key factor when education and intelligence are taken into account, even for brothers and twins.
The University of Copenhagen study tracked 666,000 Danish men who had entered National Service in the country.
Study senior author Professor Merete Osler, of the University of Copenhagen said: “A key strength of our study is that it adjusted for the potential role of education and intelligence in young men’s dementia risk, both of which may build up cognitive reserve and make this group less vulnerable to developing dementia.
“After this adjustment, our results still point to an association between taller body height in young men and a lower risk of dementia diagnosis later in life.
“Our analysis of brothers further suggests that the association may have common roots in early-life environmental exposures, unrelated to family factors shared by brothers.”
The study also claimed they can’t be sure if the same findings apply to women as they were not included in this study.
The researchers found that 10,599 of the men they tracked developed dementia in later life.
