Why Beta-Ecdysterone Could Help Adults Grow Taller

Note: At this point, I am not sure if the compounds Beta-Ecdysterone & Beta-Ecdysone are the same compound. I am going to assume that they are the same, until someone tells me otherwise. They are also known by the family of compounds known as the Ecdysteroids. Other names for Beta-Ecdysterone include ecdysterone or 20-hydroxyecdysone (Update April 13, 2014: It does seem that Ecdysterone has a variety of names, which includes Beta-Ecdysone. Refer to the WebMD short article on it Here)

I said before that many of the compounds I will look at and research have already been looked at by Tyler in his posts from many years ago. This particular compound which we call Beta-Ecdysterone is one of those compounds. (The older post from Height Quest is available here) However, I wanted to give my own spin on the same studies he had referenced.

The studies he had referenced before are below…

1. Ecdysteroid coordinates optic lobe neurogenesis via a nitric oxide signaling pathway.
2. Beneficial effects of beta-Ecdysone on the joint, epiphyseal cartilage tissue and trabecular bone in ovariectomized rats

It is definitely the 2nd article which is most interesting, since it shows that the compound Beta- Ecdysone has the effect of thinkening the articular cartilage. He notes (and quotes the following)…

Ecd and E(2) [estrogen] induced a significant increase in the thickness of joint cartilage. 

The whole epiphyseal growth plate and its proliferative and hypertrophic zones were also increased by Ecd {Ecdysterone stimulated the growth plate} whereas E(2) reduced their size {this was probably over the equilibrium quantity of estrogen, you need some estrogen}. The percentage of trabecular area in the metaphysis of tibia was significantly increased in Ecd and E(2) treated animals.

As for the 1st study….

The first study he referenced talks about the ability of using Beta- Ecdysone to stimulate Nitric Oxide. Tyler’s whole thesis behind the post I referenced is this: Beta- Ecdysone seems to increase NO, but NO has only the ability to make chondrocytes which are already there to go into hypertrophy. It has not been shown in any studies we’ve found yet to differentiate stem cells or make chondrocytes already there to proliferate. Like a chain of chemical reactions, if you have the catalyst to change the 3rd product into the 4th product, but you have no catalyst to get the 1st raw material to turn into the 2nd product, there is nothing to work with. (The first chemical process would be to differentiate whatever little MSCs is in the trabecular bone material into the chondrocyte lineage, which NO doesn’t do).

The comparison of Beta-Ecdysone to Estrodial

It was in the 2nd study which showed that while both compounds have osteogenic qualities, increasing the bone density of the trabecular bone, they had opposite effects on chondrocyte/cartilage. Beta- Ecdysone increased cartilage thickness while Estradiol decreased it, which is already well established.

The young Brazilian Height Increase Researcher who was trying to create a formulation which I even did a full podcast episode about kept repeating over and over again about how bad the effects of estradiol are, which I agree with completely.

What seems to be going on is that the Ecdysone is not able to bind to the estrogen receptors, which in my opinion is a very good thing! Remember that in our studies on phytoestrogens and isoflavones, I had suggested back then that the phytoestrogens, found in soy based products, was bad for height, but good for curing certain types of cancers.

The idea that it doesn’t work on humans

We are fully aware (and do read) other people who comment in on the posts. One person noted that Beta-Ecdysterone was never supposed to work on large mammals so oral ingestion of the compound would be useless. They referenced “Identification of ligands and coligands for the ecdysone-regulated gene switch.“

It seems that ecdysone can’t attach to certain ligands in mammalian bodies.

The big question is probably this – Does this compound really work on mammals/humans, specially adult humans?

Let’s refer to the study “Practical uses for ecdysteroids in mammals including humans: and update”

It is absolutely true that there is very little studies to back up the idea that the ecdysteroids would even work on mammals. From the study above I quote “Ecdysteroids are structurally quite different from mammalian steroids, and they are not expected to bind to vertebrate steroid receptors“. So it sort of suggests that ecdysteroids should not work. What is good however, is that they are non-toxic. It was used back in the Cold War decades by soviet athletes as a type of performance enhancing drug used in resistance training.

We quote the following “Ecdysteroids are apparently not endogenously generated components of mammalian systems. However, they are normal components of the diets of many animals”

So it seems that our bodies don’t naturally produce this chemical, but it is found often in plant-based foods that we consume. The only plant/vegetable which this compound is found in in large enough concentration seems to be spinach.

What is the end result?

While this compound is very safe for mammal and human oral ingestion, it seems that it does not last very long in the body. Most of the applications of this compound has been in the lab, in in-vitro cultures, to test different types of cells. The compound has never been injected into mammals, and the researchers have said that the end results are inconclusive. This compound is just very short-lived in the body. It seems to get caught by the liver, get transported by the bile duct, and is pushed out of the system through fecal matter.

Many times over it has been shown that ecdysterone is a very good candidate to be used in gene therapy, since it can turn on & off gene expressions.

This compound has so many different types of benefits in terms of cell proliferation that it is overwhelming to list all the organ systems it seems to benefit. What I will however reference is the study on how it was shown to decrease the time for fractures to heal.

• Syrov VN, Matveev SB, Kurmukov AG, Islambekov US. Effect of ecdysterone and nerobol on the healing of experimental bone fractures. Medicinal’nii Zhurnal Uzbekistana. 1986a;(3):67–69.

While there seems to be no conclusive studies which shows that this compound is even supposed to be able to bind to the ligands and receptors in human body, athletes have been using the compound for at least 40 years as a performance enhancing drug, first started as a practice by nations in the Eastern Bloc.

This compound however is extremely abundant in nature. I quote the following “Ecdysteroids are probably the most abundant steroids in nature because they are produced not only by arthropods, but also by many plant species. They seem to display a wide array of pharmacological effects on vertebrates, many of which are beneficial”

The last thing I can show is a chart taken from the study referenced showing the effects of this compound on various types of lab animals, but never humans.

What is consistent is that it seems to increase protein synthesis in the liver, and makes some of the organs larger, even in the juvenile lab animals.

I am willing to conclude that this compound most likely has more than one beneficial effect to the mammalian body. The professional researchers claim that there is not enough studies to validate that this type of steroid would even work on humans, but I feel that there is enough evidence. It will work on animals.

The key is that you have to increase the dosage of taking the compound, whether orally, through intravenous injection, or intramuscular injections, by a large multiple. The compound seems to be taken up by the body very quickly.

There is only 1 rat study to show that this compound can increase the thickness of epiphyseal growth plate cartilage and increase the thickness of articular cartilage, but that does show that it has some beneficial effect.

I would suggest that to make sure that the chemical be higher in efficacy, it would be a better idea to inject the compound subintravenously locally into the bones close to the articular cartilage. 

If however, people are squeamish about using the needle method, you would have to buy probably A LOT of Beta-Ecdysterone to consume orally, maybe 10-20 pills a day, and that doesn’t guarantee that it would be enough. It could be as high as 100-200 pills a day of the compound. It is however completely safe. What is nice about this compound at least is that It is a type of non-prescription supplement you can find in many online retail stores. You can get get it from Amazon here.

The best possible outcome is a few millimeters of increase, as the articular cartilage becomes thicker if you an adult. If you are a child with intact growth plates, it can be one of those magic pills that can give a statistical difference, like 1-2 cm extra in final adult height. The effect of this compound seems to be real, but it will be small.