At last, I can deliver a bit of good news to those people who are always bemoaning their body shape and keep complaining that their pear shape body fat distribution is less than ideal.

If that is something that you can identify with, you will be pleased to learn that recent Danish research has revealed that if you have larger thighs than the average, you finally have a reason to celebrate. The Danish study found that having bigger thighs than the average person protects you against cardiovascular disease and premature death.

The research, which was performed on 2800 men and women, found that people with a thigh circumference of 60 centimetres or less had an increased risk of premature death, as well as heart and cardiovascular disease. As a matter of fact, those with the smallest thighs – measuring 46 cm or less in circumference – had double the mortality risk of those with a thigh circumference of 55 cm.
According to the researchers, having too little muscle or subcutaneous fat in the lower limbs, is likely to cause a problem with sugar and fat metabolism and this leads on to chronic disease and higher risk.

We have known for quite some time that extra fat, when it is deposited mainly around the waist and causes the so called ‘apple shape’ obesity, is bad for you and increases your risk of heart disease and of cardiovascular disease. But although this was never shown to be the case in people with the more ‘pear shape’ distribution of body fat, there was no research, until now, to suggest that it was actually beneficial.

Further research will be necessary to see if increasing the thigh muscle mass through exercise creates similar health benefits.