I wanted to show the readers in this post something which I have been finding a lot recently, which is that different medical sources seem to say the exact opposite thing in their results. I was doing research on BMPs for another post and there was contradictory information on which BMPs have the highest chondroinductive potential.

So for this post, I wanted to focus on the compound Tamoxifen. Tamoxifen is what is known as an aromatase inhibitor, where it is supposed to prevent androgens aka testosterone in the body from turning into estrogen. 

So by that logic, since it is preventing estrogen from being produced, it should help in increasing the length of time for growth from preventing growth plates from fusing completely.

There is sources that support this idea like from old Height Increase forums in threads like Real advice from an endocrinologist…

“…Anti-estrogen, or aromatase blockers, are available widely and might not require a prescription. They should be safe, but given that they deal with the brain, if you experience and neurologic effects like uncontrollable shaking of your hand, stop treatment and seek professional advice. Examples of anti-estrogen can be Letrivole, Tamoxifen and many more.”

Other sources like from the article Tamoxifen May Help Short Boys Grow Taller

“…tamoxifen, which is usually used for the treatment of breast cancer, decreases the rate of skeletal maturation in boys giving them time to attain higher final body height. These research findings were reported in the in a recent issue of the medical journal Pediatrics.”

The referenced study is The Use of Tamoxifen to Improve Height Potential in Short Pubertal Boys. It would seem that many of the other websites that are saying that Tamoxifen can help increase height all reference this one study, which for me is slightly troubling.

The main thing to note from the real source is that the few boys tested on were almost 15 years old and on average had tamoxifen administered for a littler over 2 years.

THE OPPOSITE SIDE

Interestingly Tyler wrote about this factor in the post Grow Tall With Tamoxifen where he realizes that there seems to be more evidence showing that Tamoxifen is bad for longitudinal growth.

Not only that, Hakker posted years ago in the bodybuilding forum this…

“Avoid tamoxifen (sold as “Nolvadex”). Bodybuilders on steroid cycles often use tamoxifen because it interferes with the estrogen receptor; that way, they don’t get man boobs. Some may take tamoxifen for its anti-estrogen qualities to keep their growth plates open. Don’t. In several studies, ironically, tamoxifen has actually caused irreversible death of growth plate cells, a precursor to the fusion of the growth plates. In some instances, tamoxifen has been given to end the growth of very tall girls. Tamoxifen also greatly stunts growth hormone secretion and IGF-1 production. Tamoxifen is an anti-breast cancer drug. Not a bodybuilding drug. Bodybuilding and anti-estrogen is an off-label use of tamoxifen. Lowered GH and IGF-1 is good for breast cancer, but bad for growth. Take home lesson: Avoid tamoxifen or Nolvadex.”

This concurs with two studies I have found on PubMed point at that fact…

1. Tamoxifen impairs both longitudinal and cortical bone growth in young male rats.
2. Tamoxifen induces permanent growth arrest through selective induction of apoptosis in growth plate chondrocytes in cultured rat metatarsal bones.

Another source I wanted to cite is “Precocious puberty and statural growth”

“…From the Discussion Section..Tamoxifen, a selective estrogen receptor modulator, has also been used and a recent report of a 1 year treatment shows a decreased frequency of bleeding episodes (from 3.4 to 1.2 per year in average), a decrease of growth velocity (–1.8 ± 3.0 SD) and a decrease of bone age maturation (ΔBA/ΔCA: –0.5 ± 1.0). Of note, nine of the 25 patients in this study had failed on aromatase inhibitors and were successfully treated with tamoxifen. In any case, no data are available on the long‐term effects of aromatase inhibitors or tamoxifen on height in McCune–Albright syndrome.”

Final Analysis:

It would seem that Tamoxifen seem to have two functions towards height. It causes chondrocytes to die out at a faster rate but somehow it also manages to slow down bone maturity. It is very confusing. From the first study cited above…

“…elevated chondrocyte proliferation and apoptosis, as well as decreases in the number of hypertrophic chondrocytes and in the size of terminal hypertrophic chondrocytes”

I am left to wonder whether the way tamoxifen really works is to just lead the chondrocytes to proliferate at a higher rate but don’t allow the chondrocytes to go through full hypertrophy, and then killing the cells off. This explains the growth arrest but not how it is able to slow down growth plate maturity. Very strange, and still confused at the writing and posting of this article.

Side Note: Hakker on the same bodybuilding forum thread notes this about the phytoestrogen in soy products which is the same idea I proposed a a very recent post “Phytoestrogens Found In Soy Based Foods May Explain Why Vegetarians and Asian Ethnicities Have Been Historically Shorter (Very Important!)”

Avoid soy products – Not only do they contain potent phytoestrogens that can mimic estrogen’s effects on the growth plates, but the same soy phytoestrogens have been shown to block IGF-1 signaling. Soy is bad for growth at both ends: at increasing IGF-1 and at lowering estrogen. Read ingredient labels; avoid anything that lists soy protein as a major ingredient. Soy sauce does not contain much at all of these chemicals. (Hakker)

Avoid broad beans, also known as fava beans – It contains a potent phytoestrogen (plant-based compound with effects in the body similar to estrogen) that has the ability to activate estrogen receptors. The growth plate is full of estrogen receptors. In the presence of its activation, it may begin to turn into hard bone and end growth completely. (You might even say that broad beans will turn you into a broad.) Those who red the scam book Grow Taller 4 Idiots (seriously for idiots) know that it recommends broad beans because it contains a growth hormone secreatogue, L-DOPA. Oral ingestion of L-DOPA does increase growth hormone, but not significantly in doses contained in broad beans. To achieve a significant growth hormone increase with L-DOPA, one would have to obtain purified L-DOPA from plants, which is usually so expensive that I didn’t bother to put it on the list, or get synthetic L-DOPA, which can only be obtained with a prescription. Also note: The same phytoestrogens in broad beans are found in soybeans, although the issue of phytoestrogens in soy is sure to stir up debate. (Hakker)

Just something to consider for myself when I reach the same conclusion as the research done by Hakker and the gang at Grow Tall Forum years back. Sometimes I do wish I did not have to reinvent the wheel in terms of rediscovering already studied and concluded points and get some of the already done research form the now dead website. Oh well.

Side Note: Ever since the incident with Snowden leaking the story of how the NSA has been supposedly tracking the cell phone records of everyone in the US has come out, I have been wondering just how much effort certain government agencies have been doing to watch the development of this website.

I recently noticed that the traffic this website is getting from the countries of China and India have increased dramatically recently.

Now, traffic from India is actually normal and normally it is the nation that give me the 2nd most number of visitors. From checking the website’s rankings across the internet, in recent weeks it has been going up a little. The average amount time spent by visitors from India and the Philippines are actually much higher than what I see by visitors from the USA. The Bounce rate is very low from the Philippines so I would guess that those people are really searching for a solution.

India and the Philippines have history with using the English language so it is reasonable for large amounts of traffic to come from those countries where people are typing in English into the keyboards searching for a way to possibly grow taller. I personally don’t know how a person would type Tagalog or Hindi script or characters on a keyboard.

However the traffic from the nation of People’s Republic of China has also increased by a large margin. A few days ago I noticed that some of the visitors that stayed the longest on the website (engagement time) are coming from an address in China. When I check the address of the website, it seems that the same address is being used by networks inside the USA and from a certain network in Mainland China. They log on for over an hour each time and take almost 100 actions looking over the articles and resources I have collected.

It could be that there is just a Chinese person who learned how to get around the Firewall over there and they are desperate in looking for a way to increase their height. However this is coming from multiple sources in the country.

Not only China, I have noticed from the very beginning from the website tracking software that multiple times a day I get visitors that comes from the Department of Defense or Department of Information. They don’t stay too long so I am guessing it is a bot or script written to scour the internet for suspicious activity.

I am left to wonder just how much does certain governments track our movements online. I am positive now that certain government organizations are watching this website with high interest. The fact that I have proposed the idea of increasing height using certain technologies that have not even been completely available yet means that some people are not just worried, but quite curious at whether we can make any type of breakthrough. I don’t expect that one day my place will be broken into and government agents will swoop in to take my computer and all of the papers and research I have been doing.

Maybe I am becoming paranoid over what has been on the news and internet websites recently but I am left with the quote stated by former Intel CEO Andy Grove…“Only the paranoid survive”

Study:  Regulation of mesenchymal stem cell and chondrocyte differentiation by MIA.

Tscheudschilsuren G, Bosserhoff AK, Schlegel J, Vollmer D, Anton A, Alt V, Schnettler R, Brandt J, Proetzel G.

Source: Scil Proteins GmbH, Heinrich-Damerow-Strasse 1, 06120 Halle/Saale, Germany.

Abstract

Melanoma inhibitory activity (MIA), also referred to as cartilage-derived retinoic acid-sensitive protein (CD-RAP), an 11-kDa secreted protein, is mainly expressed in cartilaginous tissue during embryogenesis and adulthood. Currently, the function of MIA in cartilage tissue is not understood. Here, we describe that MIA acts as a chemotactic factor on the mesenchymal stem cell line C3H10T1/2, stimulating cell migration significantly at concentrations from 0.24 to 240 ng/ml, while inhibiting cell migration at higher doses of 2.4 microg/ml. When analyzing the role of MIA during differentiation processes, we show that MIA by itself is not capable to induce the differentiation of murine or human mesenchymal stem cells. However, MIA influences the action of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-2 and transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta 3 during mesenchymal stem cell differentiation, supporting the chondrogenic phenotype while inhibiting osteogenic differentiation. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis revealed the up-regulation of the cartilage markers MIA, collagen type II and aggrecan in human mesenchymal stem cell (HMSC) cultures differentiated in the presence of MIA and TGF-beta 3 or BMP-2 when compared to HMSC cultures differentiated in the presence of TGF-beta 3 or BMP-2 alone. Further, MIA down-regulates gene expression of osteopontin and osteocalcin in BMP-2 treated HMSC cultures inhibiting the osteogenic potential of BMP-2. In the case of human primary chondrocytes MIA stimulates extracellular matrix deposition, increasing the glycosaminoglycan content. Therefore, we postulate that MIA is an important regulator during chondrogenic differentiation and maintenance of cartilage.

Analysis: This paper is most interesting because it shows that there might be certain compounds which have a supporting or even controlling influence on how TGF-Beta and BMPs will affect mesenchymal stem cells.

This compound known as Melanoma Inhibitory Activity (MIA) is very new to me. It is also known as cartilage-derived retinoic acid-sensitive protein (CD-RAP). The fact that is is only expressed during embryogenesis and during adulthood makes me however question whether it is any good at creating cartilage when children are still growing and going through endochondral ossification. Why is this compound not expressed when kids have open growth plates and expressed in adults?

The other thing that I wanted to raise was over the fact that the other name for MIA is retinoic acid sensitive protein. We know that retinoic acid is not good for longitudinal growth. If this compound is sensitive to retinoic acid then maybe it acts like a substrate to the RA to bind to when further cartilage formation is needed to stop ie. full bone maturity.

However the reason why this compound is considered such a breakthrough in the research is that when it is used in combination with TGF-beta or BMP-2, the cartilage tissue cell lineage is differentiated while the bone cell lineage is inhibited.

The MIA, BMP-2, and the TGF-Beta are not enough alone to create the cartilage lineage, although all of them have some type of chondrogenic and osteogenic differentiation potential. With the MIA in as part of a mixture of growth factors, human mesenchymal stem cells seemed to focus only on differentiating in that cartilage lineage. Not only that Collagen Type I markers were found, which is always a good sign.

There was also increased amount of deposition of cartilage extracellular matrix material as well as increased GAG formation.

If I was to create the best chondrogenic growth factor formula, I would definitely be studying much more on this new compound called Melanoma Inhibitory Activity.

I once talked to an average sized female who expressed a strong desire to become a model. I was very young at the time and did not know anything about the subject of modeling except that it involved people walking down an aisle showing off clothes that they were wearing. She gave me a rather brief introduction into the world of modeling and how it was important to be tall in the modeling industry, for both men and women.

At the time I wondered what did height have to do with anything, but thinking back on the issue it was rather stupid of me not to realize just how important the issue of height is to people who want to go into modeling.

It seems that the standard motto made by people in the fashion industry is that when you have a tall, thin body, basically an ectomorphic type of body, almost all clothes that you put on will look good.

When I think back on the hordes of the young Korean females who I walk by each day while I pass by Gangnam Station, the Beverly Hills of South Korea, I must admit that the girls who are taller and skinnier do seem to make the clothes that they wear look good. This might explain why almost all the shoes sold in the subway station have 4-5 inch heels and no matter the weather there will always be girls who continue to wear their height enhancing shoes.

Side Note: It seems that the mirrors in the department stores like Nordstrom, Macy’s, Sears are not showing the person accurately since they use concave/convex shaped mirrors that makes the person looking in the mirror appear thinner and taller than they really are.

So for the person who is looking to be a model, what are the height requirements to become a model?

I looked around the internet and these are the figures I have found from NewModel.com , JohnCasblancas,com, A Model’s Diary, Models.com, and ModelMayhem.com.

The numbers below are an average of what I have noticed in the numbers given.

For Women:

• Minimum Height Cutoff Point: 5′ 8″ (or 1.73 meters tall)
• Preferred Height: 5′ 9 – 5′ 10″ (or 1.75 – 1.78 meters tall)
• Maximum Height Cutoff Point: Some agencies will not choose a women who is over 6′ 2″ but there will be some agencies who will take women who are taller to fit and sell for an unique niche.

For Men:

• Minimum Height Cutoff Point: 5′ 10″ (or 1.75 meters tall) 
• Preferred Height: 6′ 1 – 6′ 2″ (or 1.85 -1.88 meters tall)
• Maximum Height Cutoff Point: Usually it is around the 6′ 3″ mark. Fashion is a business and businesses want to focus on maximizing profits. It was reported that only around 3% of all men in the US is over 6′ 3″ so it would not make much sense to make clothing that can only be worn by a small percentage of the market.

Plus, the clothing are made so that they can be comfortably worn by multiple models interchangeably. It would not be a very economical idea to hire models who are too tall since unique and special tailoring would have to be done to fit clothes on them. This means that most models are about the same range in height and stature. 

Making an exception to the rule of height requirements in modeling

While height is important, it is not everything and the only thing required to become a good model. While most people think that modeling is a rather easy job and profession to get into, it seems that it is actually rather difficult.

Height is a large determinant of how attractive a person may be but there is also facials bone structures, cheek bone structure, skin tone and skin color, skin quality, hair style, etc.

If a person has a really beautiful facial bone structure, and flawless skin, then agencies will be willing to be more flexible on the height requirement. Two of the most cited examples of people who became very successful in the modeling industry although they were below the height requirements are Kate Moss and Devon Aoki

• Height Of Kate Moss: 5′ 6″ (or 5′ 7″ depending on which source you choose to believe)
• Height Of Devon Aoki: Her height has been reported from 5′ 3″ to 5′ 5″.

The thing I notice immediately about there faces is that there is something very unique or “special” about these models. They have a certain look which is hard to describe but most people would describe them as very attractive.

What can be done about the height issue?

Some times people lie in their portfolios and profiles, for whatever reason. Usually the reason is to make themselves more employable and get more gigs. For modeling, the most common lie about height is probably to state that one is taller than one actually is. Something I have heard being done by males models is to put extra thick insoles into their shoes to give them the boost in added height to make themselves look as tall as their counterparts. I remember watching a video on YouTube about the creator of LiftKits, Derek White telling the story of how he first got the idea for the height increasing insole business from watching a fellow male model put padded insoles to make himself look taller.

Something to remember is that if a person is going to lie about being taller than they really are, it may come back to hurt them professionally. I am not sure but I would guess that modeling agencies would probably at least do a quick height measurement when a new potential model first comes to them to validate any claims of stature.

Something that I had never believed was possible was to increase a person’s potential final height by ingesting any type of amino acids. However this study I found seems to suggest such an idea.

Med Hypotheses. 2001 May;56(5):610-3.

A new technique to elevate night time growth hormone release and a potential growth hormone feedback control loop.

Parr TB

Source
Department of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA. tyParr@compuserve.com

Abstract

A new technique for controllable elevation of night time growth hormone (GH) release in adult humans involves a synergy between oral intake of the naturally occurring compounds acetyl-L-carnitine (500 mg) and L-ornithine (25-100 mg) taken at night time sleep after a 3 to 4 hour fast. The set point for normal hypothalamic GH release appears to include a ‘whole body’ mitochondrial State 3 status ‘feed back loop’ controlled by systemic acetyl- L-carnitine levels.

Copyright 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.

Analysis: The interesting thing about this PubMed published paper is that it is written in a Medical Journal or magazine which seems to be just theory and guesses, not based on real experiments and data.

From the website for the Medical Hypotheses magazine…

‘Medical Hypotheses will publish papers which describe theories, ideas which have a great deal of observational support and some hypotheses where experimental support is yet fragmentary’. (Horrobin DF, 1975 Ideas in Biomedical Science: Reasons for the foundation of Medical Hypotheses. Medical Hypotheses Volume 1, Issue 1, January-February 1975, Pages 1-2.). Medical Hypotheses was therefore launched, and still exists today, to give novel, radical new ideas and speculations in medicine open-minded consideration, opening the field to radical hypotheses which would be rejected by most conventional journals. Papers in Medical Hypotheses take a standard scientific form in terms of style, structure and referencing. The journal therefore constitutes a bridge between cutting-edge theory and the mainstream of medical and scientific communication, which ideas must eventually enter if they are to be critiqued and tested against observations.

Analysis Continued: I checked the author of the paper and it seems that he/she has written other posts before so it is not just some person who ic a complete kook.

I wanted to look for references and other studies that might validate or disprove this person’s hypothesis but some results I did find were very interesting.

So I typed in the article name “A new technique to elevate night time growth hormone release and a potential growth hormone feedback control loop.” into google to see what it would give me. One of the results I got was from a Medical Textbook named “Amino Acids and Proteins for the Athlete: The Anabolic Edge, Second Edition (Ball) BY Mauro G. Di Pasquale”

The article is cited on page 422, and I have clipped the page. It would seem that it is not just the acetyl L-carnitine and the L-orthonine but a few other common supplements that we can get over the counter which have growth hormone stimulating abilities.

Reference #11 shows that the Acetyl L Carnitine can increase IGF-1.

There is also something called Alpha-glycerylphosphorylecholine used to increase the GH response to GHRH

There is another compound known as cytidine 5-diphosphocholine

The most interesting one is reference #126 which states that “molatonin stimulates growth hormone secretion through pathways other than the growth hormone-releasing hormone. So what does this mean?

The growth hormone-releasing hormone is also known as GHRH, which is created by the hypothalamus, not the pituitary gland. This is the hormone that usually triggers the anterior part of the pituitary gland to release somatropins and somatostatins which act as a feedback loop system to control hormone releasing rates.

It would seem that melatonin has been able to cause the release of the pituitary growth hormones in another way besides triggering the GHRH.

So to wrap up, there seems to be at least 5 compounds we have discovered in this recent finding which can potentially lead to increased GH release leading to height increase in people with open growth plates. They are…

1. Acetyl-L-Cartinine
2. L-Ornithine
3. Melatonin
4. Alpha-glycerylphosphorylecholine
5. Cytidine 5-diphosphocholine

The original author of the paper suggests that one should take the supplements on an empty stomach after fasting for 3-4 hours right before going to sleep.