Glucosamine and Chondroitin may contribute to height by slowing down growth plate senescence

This study attempts to accelerate growth plate senescence by removing rat ovaries.  Chondroitin and Glucosamine appear to counteract the effects of senesence on growth plate fusion.  So even if say hypothetically GS+Chondroitin may do nothing normally, when growth plate is close to senesence or cessation of growth GS+Chondroitin may extend this period to be longer allowing height to grow further.  Unfortunately, they do not measure longitudinal bone growth directly.

But Glucosamine+Chondroitin is available for sale and the potential toxicity for the supplement seems to be extremely low so I consider it worth trying if growth plates appear close to fusion.

Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate association increases tibial epiphyseal growth plate proliferation and bone formation in ovariectomized rats

“The growth plate consists of organized hyaline cartilage and serves as a scaffold for endochondral ossification, a process that mediates longitudinal bone growth. Based on evidence showing that the oral administration of glucosamine sulfate (GS) and/or chondroitin sulfate (CS) is clinically valuable for the treatment of compromised articular cartilage, the current study evaluated the effects of these molecules on the tibial epiphyseal growth plate in female rats.

The animals were divided into two control groups, including vehicle treatment for 45 days (GC45) and 60 days (GC60) and six ovariectomized (OVX) groups, including vehicle treatment for 45 days (GV45), GS for 45 days (GE45GS), GS+CS for 45 days (GE45GS+CS), vehicle for 60 days (GV60), GS for 60 days (GE60GS) and GS+CS for 60 days (GE60GS+CS). At the end of treatment, the tibias were dissected, decalcified and processed for paraffin embedding.

after 60 days of treatment, the number of proliferative chondrocytes increased two-fold, the percentage of remaining cartilage increased four-fold and the percentage of trabecular bone increased three-fold in comparison to the control animals.

GS and CS treatment drugs led to marked cellular proliferation of the growth plate and bone formation, showing that drug targeting of the tibial epiphyseal growth plate promoted longitudinal bone growth.”

An OVX female mice is a mice that has had their ovaries removed and this is used to simulate osteoperosis.  So there’s guarantee that this will be applicable to a healthy individual.  The rats in this study were 16-weeks old.

The control OVX groups in this study had disorganized growth plates and reduced growth plate size.

OVX growth plates +- CS

“Growth plate photomicrographs of the following: A – non-OVX rats treated for 45 days with vehicle (GC45); B – OVX rats treated for 45 days with vehicle (GV45); C – non-OVX rats treated for 60 days with vehicle (GC60); D – OVX rats treated for 60 days with vehicle (GV60), E – OVX rats treated for 45 days with GS (GE45GS); F – OVX rats treated for 45 days with GS+CS (GE45GS+CS); G – OVX rats treated for 60 days with GS (GE60GS); and H – OVX rats treated for 60 days with GS+CS (GE60GS+CS). Sirius red-hematoxylin staining. (r: resting cartilage; p: proliferative cartilage; h: hypertrophic cartilage, c: remaining cartilage, o: trabecular bone, m: bone marrow). Scale bar = 75 µm.”

Here’s an LSJL growth plate for reference from this LSJL study:

The mice in this study were not OVX and were 8 weeks old.  The growth plates do not appear to be more disorganized.

“Compared to GV45 and GV60, the GE45GS, GE45GS+CS, GE60GS and GE60GS+CS groups presented an organized cellular arrangement and increases in the number of resting and proliferative chondrocytes, PZ thickness, remaining cartilage and the trabecular bone area. In addition, these groups showed a decrease in the number of hypertrophic chondrocytes in the bone marrow area, as well as a decrease in RZ and HZ thickness.”

The GC45 and GC60 are the control groups were looking at since those are the control groups that are not OVX but they did not have Chondroitin and Glucosamine applied unfortunately..  They will help answer the question if Chondroitin and Glucosamine stimulated growth beyond just eliminating the deficit caused by OVX.  Compared to control, Chondroitin and Glucosamine treated OVX rats had more resting and proliferative chondrocytes and less hypertrophic chondrocyes.  So CS+GS may inhibit chondrocyte hypertrophy ie. decelerate growth plate senescence.

Cartilage thickness was about equal total but the CS+GS OVX group had more thickness in the proliferative zone.  CS+GS OVX group had more hyaluronan in the hypertrophic zone and after 60 days had more remaining cartilage but less bone marrow than the control group.

“In older rats, the growth plate structure and thickness is maintained but is not functional and longitudinal growth ceases at a certain point”

“To accelerate the senescence process in adult animals, OVX was performed in our study.”

13 thoughts on “Glucosamine and Chondroitin may contribute to height by slowing down growth plate senescence

  1. Ryanhebbs

    The site went from saying Glucosamine can add a tiny bit of height to 2inches depending on the person even with closed growth plates…

    To saying you need certain vitamins with it to help it work

    To now saying ot doesn’t add height just slows growth plates closing lol

    Site is an absolute joke just trying to make money outta peoples ignorance.

    1. Tyler Post author

      There are two admins who post on this site.

      And I didn’t necessarily say that it doesn’t add height just that it may only have an effect on slowing down growth plates. That’s different than any height gain from articular cartilage.

      1. Julius

        Have you thought about recruiting someone else, I’m sure there must be at least someone as passionate and knowledgeable as you guys.

  2. ML

    Great news! And what dose of Glucosamine sulfate and Chondroitin sulfate should we take in order to slow down growth plate senescence?

  3. JJ

    I don’t understand though, in another post Michael said that DNA methylation leads to growth plate death and it is clear that msm, glucosamine, and chondroitin all cause DNA methylation?

    1. Tyler Post author

      DNA methylation is not a global thing. Different supplements cause methylation of different genes. There are supplements however that increase the supply of methyltransferase but it’s up to DNA signaling how this gets used. Supplements like chondroitin and glucosamine can affect what gets methylated.

  4. Jimmy

    You guys have got the approach wrong. Glucosamine can give you some inches in height, but you’ve got to megadose it and take it in liquid form. Pills don’t do shit. I grew almost 2 inches doing this. Take 10 fl oz of g+c a day for 6 months and you’ll grow noticeably, believe me.

    1. brose

      Jimmy, what is your age?when did you start injecting and how long? Do you still inject? You injected it into you? please share the details- – any side effects? How did you inject it, did you have the dosage injected one time at 10 fl oz or 2 times a day at 5fl oz? Do you inject the same spot everyday or change injection spots, where did you inject? And where do you think you gained height? Spine or legs? Both? Thanks please reply

    2. Ron

      Hi Jimmy,

      you mentioned 10 fl oz liquid form glucosamine per day. that would be about 296g.. that would translate to 296 1000mg pills.. something is wrong here.. please explain .. thanks ..
      and how old are you.. please elaborate on how you attain close to two inches and how long it took you .. thank you

  5. Ron

    Hi Jimmy,

    you mentioned 10 fl oz liquid form glucosamine per day. that would be about 296g.. that would translate to 296 1000mg pills.. something is wrong here.. please explain .. thanks ..
    and how old are you.. please elaborate on how you attain close to two inches and how long it took you .. thank you

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