The length of the index finger and ring finger can tell a lot about man’s health, claim researchers from the Jagiellonian University Medical College and the University of New Mexico in the United States in the journal "Annals of Human Biology".
Earlier scientific findings have shown that the length of the fingers - both in women and men - contains information about foetal development. New research on the topic, conducted by the Polish-American team, will be published in the upcoming issue of the "Annals of Human Biology".
If a man’s index finger is shorter than his ring finger, this means that in utero he was subject to higher levels of testosterone than oestrogen. And vice versa: a man with a longer index finger was subject to a higher concentration of oestrogen in the womb. The 2nd is the 4th digit ratio (2D:4D) does not change with age. Therefore, it can be used as an indicator of the hormonal environment in which the foetus developed.
Researchers from the Department of Health and Environment , the Jagiellonian University Medical College: PhD student Magdalena Klimek, Prof. Grażyna Jasieńska , Dr. Andrzej Galbarczyk, Dr. Ilona Nenko and Louis Calistro Alvarado of the University of New Mexico studied nearly 700 men of all ages, living in the Island Beskids.
Polish and American scientists have found that boys who have a shorter index finger relative to the ring finger (indicating higher levels of testosterone in utero), are born bigger and have a higher body mass during childhood and adolescence. Moreover, in adulthood those men also have higher concentrations of testosterone and more children.
This suggests that digit ratio is related to can be regarded as the indicator of health condition in men. Presented results indicate that high concentrations of testosterone during foetal development may have a beneficial effect on all subsequent life of men because this hormone plays a key role in the normal development of male foetuses. Thus, according to the Polish-American team, the digit ratio allows to estimate the level of testosterone and the man’s reproductive potential.
"High level of testosterone is associated not only with benefits: too high concentrations may also cause health problems. Previous studies have shown that men with longer ring finger are more likely to develop prostate cancer, autism and cardiovascular disease" - told PAP Magdalena Klimek. "This simple indicator may well soon become one of the tools to assess the risk of many diseases, which may have their roots in the womb" - emphasised PhD student at Jagiellonian University.
Prof. Jasieńska added that " the search for indicators that tell us under what conditions foetal development occurred, is extremely important". "Many lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease are more common in people who have developed in adverse conditions" - the researcher told PAP.
The article in the "Annals of Human Biology" is already available online.
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