Chapter 13 - Leg Length, Body Proportion, Health and Beauty

Abstract

Decomposing stature into its major components is a useful strategy to assess the antecedents of disease, morbidity and death in adulthood. Human leg length, sitting height and their proportions are associated with epidemiological risk for overweight, coronary heart disease, diabetes, liver dysfunction and certain cancers. Relative leg length is used as an indicator of the quality of the environment for growth during infancy, childhood and the juvenile years. In humans, between birth and puberty the legs grow more rapidly than other postcranial body segments. Short stature in children due to relatively short legs (i.e. a high sitting height ratio) generally indicates an adverse environment. The development of body proportions is the product of environmental by genomic interactions. In non-pathological populations, environment has a more powerful influence on leg length and body proportions than genes. Leg length and proportion are important in the perception of beauty, which is often considered a sign of health and fertility.