Turns out, those sexy high heels fit for Victoria Beckham or a very pregnant Kim Kardashian don’t give you bunions — but genetics do.
 
Even though uncomfortable or ill-fitting, yet oh so stylish, shoes have been blamed for hallux valgus, the bunion foot deformity, they only exacerbate the problem, the BBC reports.
 
The truth, as it were: It’s a hereditary bone disorder, one that affects almost a third of adults, which causes the big toe to jut in the direction of its fellows, according to the six-year Framingham Foot Study published in May’s issue of Arthritis Care & Research journal.
 
Moreover, hereditary foot disorders, including bunions, were more commonly found in Caucasian men and women of European decent, the study says.
 
“These new findings highlight the importance of furthering our understanding of what causes greater susceptibility to these foot conditions, as knowing more about the pathway may ultimately lead to early prevention or early treatment,” says Marian Hannan, M.D., Arthritis Care & Research’s editor-in-chief from the Harvard Medical School in Boston, in the journal’s news release.