A recently study in The New England Journal of Medicine found there is a 13.5 percent increased risk of clogged arteries for every 2.5 inches one is shorter in height. Led by University of Leicester cardiology professor Nilesh Samani, an international gathering of researchers analyzed 180 genetic variants in 200,000 men and women worldwide, with and without heart disease.

The relationship  is constant throughout the range of adult heights. As example, a five foot seven inch person has a 27 percent greater chance of contracting heart disease than someone who is six foot. Interesting as it is, the effect is minor compared with the risks associated with smoking, which increases the possibility 200 to 300 percent.

The question is begged of what exactly is the connection between the genes that control stature and heart disease. Do the same genes affect other cardiovascular indicators, like diabetes, obesity or blood pressure?

Just one link was found by Samani and his colleagues. It turns out that the genetic variants involved with shorter height are also connected with slightly higher levels of LDL, the so-called bad cholesterol that raises heart disease risk. It is also associated with slightly higher levels of another risk factor in the blood, triglycerides. But researchers say this link is not enough to account for the association of height with heart disease.

Not all researchers are dazzled by the report. “It’s a weak effect,” said Kari Stefansson, chief executive officer of Iceland’s deCODE Genetics, a self-described “global leader in analyzing and understanding the human genome.” While acknowledging the linkage as real, he nonetheless says it is not substantial.

A connection between height and cardiovascular disease was first observed in 1951 by U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower’s physician, Paul Dudley White. He pointed out that 100 people admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital who had heart attacks before the age of 40 were two inches shorter than average.

The effect apparently can also go in the opposite direction. A study last year found observed atrial fibrillation as more common in taller people.