Tall men have a heightened risk of dying from aggressive prostate cancer, research showns.
British scientists have found no association between height and overall prostate cancer risk but a strong link with high-grade, deadly tumours.
Every extra 10cm in a man's height led to a 21 per cent increased risk of developing high-grade prostate cancer and a 17 per cent greater chance of death from the disease, the study found.
A similar association was seen between waistline size and aggressive prostate cancer.
Lead researcher Dr Aurora Perez-Cornago, of Oxford University, said: "The finding of high risk in taller men may provide insights into the mechanisms underlying prostate cancer development, for example related to early nutrition and growth.
"We also found that a healthy body weight is associated with a reduced risk of high-grade prostate cancer and death from prostate cancer years later.
"The observed links with obesity may be due to changes in hormone levels in obese men, which in turn may increase the risk of aggressive prostate cancer.
"However, the difference in prostate cancer may also be partly due to differences in prostate cancer detection in men with obesity."
Each 10cm increase in waist circumference was associated with an 18 per cent increased risk of dying from prostate cancer and a 13 per cent greater likelihood of having a high-grade disease.
The scientists drew on findings from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition, a large-scale study from eight countries including the UK.
