Good news for a lot of us: having thunder thighs may actually prolong our lives ! A study, published in the British Medical Journal, followed several hundred men and women in Denmark for more than 10 years and discovered that “those with the smallest thighs – below 55cm (about 22 inches) – had twice the risk of early death or serious health problems.” Researchers found that the risk was “more highly related to thigh circumference than to waist circumference” and believe that the risk could be associated with too little muscle mass, which can lead to the body not responding to insulin properly, thus increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, responded to the published study, saying: “This is a very interesting and slightly counter-intuitive piece of work but it has to be respected because of the numbers looked at and the duration of the research. This must be great news for people with larger thighs.” Well, not quite as great as finding perfect-fitting jeans on sale, but I’ll take it. [via BBC News]
