Thinner thighs lead to heart disease, early death: Study

Thigh measurement could be a predictive test for heart disease, in future.

Thin thighs not so good?

Women and men with thin, less fatty thighs are more likely to get heart diseases and could die an early death. For all the women who are worried about the thickness of their thighs, here is some perverse compensation!

Photo: Thick thighs may not be all bad

People with thinner thighs risk a higher chance of premature deaths and severe heart diseases as thighs with less muscle can adversely affect the fat and sugar metabolism in the body, according to study published in the British Medical Journal.

General physicians could now use thigh circumference measurement as a predictor to identify patients at later risk of cardiovascular disease and early death, researchers claim.

The probability of heart disease and early death increases with the decreasing size of the thighs. Thinner thighs raises the possibility of death by at least two-fold.

The study measured thighs and evaluated in detail the body composition of 1,436 men and 1,380 women in Denmark, funded by the Danish Medical Research Council. Researchers also tracked the health the men and women participated in the study for more than a decade as part of a study conducted on behalf of the World Health Organization.

People with thighs smaller than the average of 60 centimeters (23.6 inches) in circumference posed higher risk. While those with with larger thighs didn’t get additional protection.

The damaging effects of the thinner thighs could be related to the too little muscle mass in their overall composition. Because very little muscle mass can adversely affect fat and sugar metabolism in the body, said the Danish researchers.

The researchers were led by Berit Heitmann, director of research at Copenhagen University Hospital’s Institute of Preventive Medicine.

The risk of heart diseases and early death remained the same even after the researchers took into account of the other factors including weight, lifestyle, stomach fat, blood pressure, cholesterol.

Even though there have been several approaches focused on height, weight and the size of the hips relative to the waist, nobody has looked into this link between thinner thighs and vulnerability to heart disease, the leading cause of death worldwide, researchers said.

However, researchers advised larger studies to ascertain whether interventions that increase thigh muscle mass through increased physical activity, “in addition to or separate from current primary prevention strategies, decrease cardiovascular risk more than current practice.”