Today is Dec. 25th, 2012 so I will do a special post on Jesus Christ!

A few days ago I was watching a documentary on Youtube that was talking about the resurrection, final 6 sightings, and ascension of Jesus Christ and it got me to wonder a very obvious question “How tall was Jesus Christ? What was Jesus’s height?”

Of all the people in human history I could have done a height analysis on, I think it would only be appropriate if I tried to make an educated guess on the man that has probably effected more people in human history than any other person. Interestingly, a book from 1978 called “The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History” makes the claim that Jesus is only #3 in the rankings, behind his muslim counterpart Muhammad and Isaac Newton. However, I would guess to choose who is more influential is probably a more personal/ bias opinion between historians since everything is all subjective, unlike height.

For a reference, I did use Wikipedia, Biography.com

To start off, we know that Jesus born in a manger/stable close to the town of Bethlehem from the lack of inn space, which is in present day Palestine from the New Testament. That is the story that is told in Western Orthodox Christianity. It seems that his mother and “father” Joseph were average people. Joseph was a sheperd . Jesus was raised in the town of Nazareth, of Galilee, which is in modern day a large region in northern Israel. The predominant languages spoke then were in ascending order of prominence, Semitic Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek in that region of Israel.

We know he is Jewish. I once tried to figure out whether the term “Jew” and “Jewish” refers to either a group of people based on religion, ethnicity, or race. I think at least in the US, the term “Jew” and “Jewish”  is used interchangeably in all contexts, for religion, ethnicity, and race. For me, I still can’t get the word to be defined and be accurately used.

If I tried to define Jesus as Jewish in terms of race, it would tell me very little. From Wikipedia on the Appearance of Jews Based On Stereotypes this is quoted…

“In caricatures and cartoons, Jews are often depicted having dark skin, curly black hair, large hook-noses, thick lips, large dark-colored eyes and wearing kippahs…Jews are commonly caricatured as having large noses^[3] or hook noses.^[4] Jews are also portrayed as swarthy and hirsute. There is a brown, edible woodland fungus, Auricularia cornea, commonly referred to as “Hairy Jew’s ear”.^[5]“

From past memory, the stereotype of Jews which I remember is that they are never described as “tall” but either average height or short. From JewishEncyclopedia.com…

“The average height of Jews is 162.1 cm.; span of arms, 169.1 cm.; and girth around the chest, about 81 cm.: so that they are the shortest and narrowest of Europeans. Their skulls are mainly brachycephalic; that is, the breadth is generally over 80 per cent of the length. This has been used as an argument against the purity of race, as most Semites—like the Arabs and Syrians—are dolichocephalic, or longheaded. But, as Jewish skulls are almost the broadest in all Europe, it is difficult to say how this characteristic could have arisen from any mixture: it is probably due to cerebral development.”

This figure is not indicated whether they are talking about men, women, or the average of all people.

From Answers.com for Judaism Answer…

It depends on the Jewish group…Ashkenazi Jews are usually tall. 90% of the Ashkenazi ( white ) Jews I’ve met are over 6’0″ or in the 5’10” – 6’1″ range…The Mizrahi and Sephardim Jews are usually more like 5’6″ – 5’9″ but it varies. The main reason these eastern European Jews are tall is because most eastern europeans are tall Jews or Gentiles. I personally am one fourth racial Jew and I am 5’4″ at almost 16 years of age … guess the height gene was prominant?…Actually the shorter Jewish guys, I’ve met are Ashkenazi, they were 5’7″-5’9″. The Sephardi that I met in Central, South America, Mexico included ranged from 6’4″ to 6’8″.

It seems that the term Jews encompasses many groups of people, Ashkenazi, Mizrahi, Sephardim, etc.

From JewishEncyclopedia.com, it would appear that the website is very negative towards Jews because it claims that on average, the Jews are about 1-3 shorter than the “gentiles” that surround them.

From these sources, it is clear that Jesus being ethnicity Jewish does not help me at all in figuring out how tall he is.

It would seem that the present day Israel has an average adult male height of 5′ 9.5″ and female is 5′ 5.5″ (source). If we take into consideration that present day Israel (and it’s territory of Palestine) is a developed country (at least the Tel Aviv part) with all the modern amenities like shopping centers which would indicate the people there are getting at least the enough food, right amount of nutrition when they are young and not suffering from malnutrition, we could say that for the people there, they have reached their genetic peak in that region. I have said before that there is really no “genetic peak” because I am quite positive that the children of israelites who relocate to the netherlands will end up probably 3-4 inches taller than their immigrant parents.

In terms of racial mixture and purity, that is impossible to pinpoint without DNA devices. The region of israel has been fought over, overrun, ransacked, and had its people raped and pillaged at least a half dozen major times in its history. The Mongols, the Christians during the Crusades, the ottomans, the turks, the Egyptians, the Hittites, the persians, babylonians, assyrians, they have all come through and left a genetic imprint on its people. So it is not really possible to determine the height of Jesus using standard average height based on ethnic group data.

We know from the results of North Korea and South Korea that malnutrition will decimate the stature of its people. From an old article entitled “Longevity & health in ancient Paleolithic vs. Neolithic peoples” by Ward Nicholson it said that men who lived in the Hellenistic times (300 BC-100 AD) were about 172 cm and women were around 156 cm.

From ReligiousTolerance.Org…

His physical characteristics: We do not know whether he was tall or short. The image on the Shroud of Turin (believed by many to be the burial shroud of Jesus) is of a man variously estimated to be 5′ 11½” to 6′ 2″ tall. Jews who lived in the 1st century CE were much shorter than this. Writer William Harwood comments: “According to a medieval writer, [the Jewish historian] Josephus described Jesus as an old-looking man, balding, stooped, with joined eyebrows and approximately 135 cm (4ft 6 in.) tall.” ₂ This is based on the standard 46 cm. long regular cubit — an ancient unit of distance. Using the 53 cm. special cubit, Jesus’ height would have been about 156 cm (5ft 1in.). Harwood also makes the point that if Jesus were really 6 feet high, his height would have been so remarkable that he would certainly have been described as a very tall person by the writers of the Christian Scriptures.

If I was to take an educated guess I would say that Jesus would probably not be the 5′ 11″-6′ 2″ that seems to be suggested by the Shroud Of Turin. The fact is that 6′ 0″ by today’s standards can be considered tall in some nations and even in some parts of the US, due to ethnic demographics. The other suggested height of 5′ 1″ seems more reasonable, although it seems to me to be a little on the short side, but how would I know what the average male height of people in biblical israel be.

From another credible source TheGospelCoalition.Org entitled “What did Jesus Look Like?” by Justin Taylor…

From an analysis of skeletal remains, archeologists had firmly established that the average build of a Semite male at the time of Jesus was 5 ft. 1 in., with an average weight of about 110 pounds.” I admit that it feels a bit strange to think of being over a foot taller than Jesus! But it’s good to have our cultural preconceptions—even prejudices—challenged.

It would seem that the 5′ 1″ figure appears again, and this time it is estimated from skeletal remains found by archeologists.

From an old article on Popular Mechanics entitled “The Real Face Of Jesus” we find that the same source is cited where the idea is that Jesus was an average height male being Galilee Semite. It says that Jesus was a carpenter so we know that he was probably very muscular and he worked in the sun so his face was probably more wrinkled, darker, which would make his complexion to be olive colored, or Meditarrenean. It would be restated that the real historical Jesus was considered to be not attractive, but very average looking.

Even some religious scholars which tried to do the research from biblical quotes like HERE end up to show that Jesus was just average height, the same size as his disciples. In the end, he made the point that the size of one individual does not determine whether they are a good man.

Conclusion: Most of the results point to the idea that Jesus was 5′ 1″. We do know that in the writings, Jesus and people in his area sustained themselves on bread and fish. Fish does have protein but not as much as cow. A diet of bread and fish technically will keep a human alive, but definitely not allow them to grow to their full potential. Jesus height probably we stunted by his diet. Plus, we know that Jesus also practiced the art of fasting like so many other religions. I wrote about the idea of Intermitent Fasting to increase height “Increase Height And Grow Taller Through Intermittent Fasting” but we have to remember that Jesus did not start preaching his message until he was after the age of 30. There seems to be no indication after his birth that Jesus was anything special or spiritual for an extended amount of time. If the effects of fasting was to wok at all, he never practiced it when he still growing. His hard labor life means that he was probably slouching a little. We saw from the other studies that technically, the Bedouin/Arabic/Semitic  people of that region from 2000 years ago were probably not the tallest group of people. Environment had a lot to do with it. I am almost certain that after the Roman Empire fell, during the dark ages of Europe, the average height of people there was probably 2-3 inches shorter than back 300 years when the Romans had plenty of food and meat to eat. If we then try to extrapolate this idea that subsequent reversal of time back to the time of early roman empire, we could say that the average roman male was probably between 5′ 3″- 5′ 5″. Jesus was alive during that time, but he was not roman, and he did not live the same life. The 2 inches of difference which would result from the lifestyle difference and the hardship of his life suggest the value  by archeologists is quite accurate. In conclusion, I would say that the real height of the historical Jesus Christ was probably between 5’0- 5′ 2″.

To end this post, it seems that even the creators of Family Guy caught on to this idea that Jesus is probably shorter than the modern idea of average height. I have embedded a video from Family Guy – Second Coming Of Jesus from Hulu.com below. Enjoy.

This study is by Hiroki Yokota of LSJL fame:

In Vitro and in Silico Analysis of ADAMTS5 Transcription in Human Chondrocytes

“Since Lrp5 is an important mechano-sensitive receptor in Wnt signaling, we examined its role in the mRNA expression of A Disintegrin and Metalloproteinase with Thrombospondin Motifs 5 (ADAMTS5), a major proteolytic aggrecanase that degrades extracellular matrix in articular cartilage. Using genome-wide expression data for C28/I2 chondrocytes with and without Lrp5-specific siRNA, we employed a systems biology approach and built a regulatory network model. Experimental data revealed that silencing Lrp5 significantly altered Wnt signaling gene expression and elevated the mRNA level of ADAMTS5 and several cytokines. A series of experiments using RNA interference showed that the expression of ADAMTS5 was at least in part stimulated by p38 MAPK and IL1β, while Lrp5 acted as a suppressor of their upregulation. Regulatory network analysis using an algorithm predicted the potential involvement of Wnt3a, Myc and CCAAT/Enhancer-Binding Protein β (CEBPB). A secretary factor such as Wnt3a might be involved in Lrp5-mediated homeostasis of ADAMTS5.”

“ow-density-Lipoprotein Receptor-Related Protein 5 (Lrp5) is a co-receptor in the canonical Wnt signaling pathway and global deletion of Lrp5 in mice as well as conditional deletion in osteocytes results in a deficiency in load-driven bone formation and presents a phenotype of low bone mass”

” Mice deficient in ADAMTS5 are protected from cartilage erosion in mouse models of osteoarthritis”<-however erosion of the cartilage is important for endochondral ossification.

“In response to treatment with Lrp5 siRNA, mRNA levels of to 6 interleukin genes (IL6, IL1β, IL12A, IL15, IL18, IL16) were elevated while IL8 mRNA was suppressed”

“Compared with Lrp5 siRNA, IL1β treatment caused a similar elevation to mRNA abundance of IL6, IL1β and ADAMTS5. However, administration of IL1β did not elevate the mRNA levels of IL12A, IL15, IL18, IL8 and IL16”

“both sequences of LRP5 siRNA elevated the phosphorylation of p38 MAPK. Applying p38 siRNA decreased total and phosphorylated p38 MAPK, while a double knockdown with LRP5 siRNA showed a slight recovery in the phosphorylated p38 MAPK level. ADAMTS5 mRNA levels decreased after p38 siRNA. Double knockdown of both p38 siRNA and LRP5 siRNA slightly decreases the elevation of ADAMTS5 mRNA caused by a single knockdown of just LRP5 siRNA.”

In my previous post, I tried to take a guess at the thinking, intentions, rationalizations, justifications, and reasons why some people, mostly females, will always choose the taller mate partner if they had a choice in mate selection. Now, let’s see whether their choices will actually results in the tall or at least average size offspring they hope for.

In a previous post I had already written about the equations medical professionals use to calculate for the final height of the parents.

There is already many, many calculators online where you just enter the heights of one’s parents, age, sex, and the result of the child is easily produced. Places like Calculator.com, Parenting.com, Babycenter.com, or BBC UK all have the same calculator which probably use the same formula to calculate the child’s ultimate height. (haven’t tested that claim yet though).

It turns out that there is more than one type of equation the medical community has created and/or use to figure out children’s final height.

From the Mayo Clinic website with an answer by  Jay L. Hoecker M. D.

There’s no proven way to predict a child’s adult height. However, several formulas can provide a reasonable guess for child growth. Here’s a popular example:

• Add the mother’s height and the father’s height in either inches or centimeters.
• Add 5 inches (13 centimeters) for boys or subtract 5 inches (13 centimeters) for girls.
• Divide by two.

Most children will reach an adult height within 4 inches (10 centimeters) of this estimation.

Another way to estimate a child’s adult height is to double his or her height at age 2.

Remember, a child’s height is controlled by genetics. It’s also important to note that children grow at different rates. Some children begin their growth phases early, while others are late bloomers. If you’re concerned about your child’s growth, consult his or her doctor.

So the equation they gave for this was where x = father’s height, and y = mother’s height, ((x+y)+5)/2 for boys, and ((x+y)-5)/2 for girls. the deviation is extremely large, by over 4 inches, which I have found to be really large of a height distribution.

From the Family Practice Notebook website…

1. Step 1: Calculate Final Height prediction (mid-parental height)
   1. Boy
      1. In: (Father’s Height + Mother’s Height + 5) / 2
      2. Cm: (Father’s Height + Mother’s Height + 13) / 2
   2. Girl
      1. In: (Father’s Height – 5 + Mother’s Height) / 2
      2. Cm: (Father’s Height – 13 + Mother’s Height) / 2
2. Step 2: Identify Predicted Growth Percentile
   1. Use above predicted mean height to mark growth chartIdentify growth percentiles for the predicted height
      1. Mark chart at 18-20 year old mark
      2. Mark Confidence Interval s
         1. Mean Height in inches +/- 2 inches (some use 3.3 inches)
         2. Mean Height in centimeters +/- 5 centimeters (some use 8.3 cm)

What seems to be obvious is that the same formula has been used for this reference. the values of the father and mother are added up and a correct factor of 5 is either or subtracted due to gender, and the value is then divided in half. For inches to cm, the conversion is to multiply by 2. 55-2.66.

From another resource InteliHealth.com Robert H. Shmerling, M.D. answers the question “Can We Predict Height?”

• From infancy, when average length is 20 inches, to age 2 there is initially rapid growth, then slowing, with about 14 inches in height added.
• From age 2 to puberty there is slow, steady growth at about 2½ inches per year.
• As one enters puberty, a growth spurt of 3 to 5 inches in a year is common.
• By ages 40 to 50, height actually may begin slowly to decline, even in healthy adults.

A major determinant of height is how long the longest bones become, such as the femur (in the upper leg), tibia and fibula (in the lower leg)….The growth spurt around the time of puberty occurs two years earlier in girls when compared with boys, but the boys tend to be taller when it begins. Most of the average height difference between adult men and women (about 5 inches) relates to the greater growth of boys during the adolescent growth spurt and the greater height achieved prior to that growth spurt (even though girls tend to start their growth spurt sooner)….Rather predictably, we achieve about half of our adult height by age 2. So one way to predict ultimate height is simply to double the height achieved by the second birthday.

One commonly quoted formula uses parental height and gender to predict adult height (in inches) as follows:

   For men: (height of mother + height of father + 5)/2
   For women: (height of mother + height of father – 5)/2

If you know your parents’ heights, see if this formula predicts yours well; for most people, this will accurately predict your height within 2 or 3 inches.

All of these methods can only approximate ultimate height; they cannot predict with precision. In addition, formulas and growth charts to predict height are based on large numbers of normal children and do not perform well in predicting the ultimate height of an individual child who is unusually short or tall, has been ill, or has a genetic disorder.

Conclusion: I think at this point from three references, there is one general formula most pediatricians who are asked this type of question by concerned parents will use. It is simple, easy to calculate, and has a height range of 6-8 inches. I think the key thing to take away is to see that on average, the children of short people who marry and mate with tall people end up slightly taller than their parents of the same gender and end up somewhere in either the middle to the taller range. Overall, the results are a bad indication of what final height the children ill end up since there is so much room for deviation. I’ve known children of tall parents who end up shorter than both of them, and i’ve seen even more cases of children who end up even 1 feet taller than their parents. The answer is that an endocrinologist or pediatrician can definitely calculate a value for the child but most likely that value will be off so it is possible to get a very weak guess at the right value of the final height.

This is another major issue that I think needs to be resolved for any men who are noticing that they are not getting any luck on the romance and relationships department from the possibility that they are not tall enough to hit that height cut-off point in female expectations. Interesting I don’t think I have ever heard of a female complain that a guy is too tall for her to date, only too short. For the reverse, I have heard of men who have complained their female romantic interest was both too short and too tall.

We’ve heard the #1 reason why so many (average and short ) females who are willing to date and have sex with short males but don’t ultimately marry and mate with them state. The message is always ” I am afraid that if I marry/mate/ have kids with this man, my kids will end up short (like me) and they will be get bullied, ostracized, rejected, have less chances and opportunities for career advancement, and have a lower quality of life. They might not even find a great, high quality mate because they might turn out to be short ” – This is what they are really thinking and going through their head, and what they are willing to share or admit when you pressure the females to admit their real intentions, reasons for strange (and often cruel) actions, and rationalizations/ justifications. (If I am sounding bitter and resentful, there is actually a good reason for this. Read to the end.)

Other reasons they give (but not limited to) are …

1. I want a big guy/male who can protect me and feel safe.
2. Only an above average  in height/tall man can make me feel safe and secure.
3. Only a big, tall man can make me fee like a real feminine woman/girl.
4. It just feels right to be with tall men
5. It just “looks” good to be with tall men.
6. I have always had a preference for tall guys…
7. I have always had a “thing” for tall guys…
8. I have only dated guys who are at least 6 feet tall but usually taller.
9. I can’t imagine spending the rest of my life with a guy who is only at my eye level.
10. I want to look up when I kiss him.
11. I want to be the feminine one in the relationship and if he is short, I would feel too masculine
12. I am a high quality female who has it all so I DESERVE to be with someone just as high quality as me.
13. I am tall already myself. It would only make sense that I MUST be with a guy who is even taller.
14. My father and brothers, and other relatives are all tall so my husband should be too.
15. I want the man to be big and strong so he can pick me up and carry me like the romance movies.
16. And the list for female justification & rationalization continues on and on…

I can not even begin to state the countless (and I do mean COUNTLESS) number of times that I have heard through my ears or have heard from the anecdotal stories of other people who know someone or who themselves have rejected, or been by rejected, by potential romantic and dating partners due to a lack of height. In the dating world, size matters, and it matters a whole lot. There are enough studies done which showed that in terms of first impressions for guys, their height is the #1 determinant of a females attraction of them, if other factors like clothing, style of dress, shoes, hair cleaniless, and facial attractiveness is held constant.

[Note: Obviously over the subject of the factor Facial Attractiveness, that is not as measurable or quantifiable like height, and this factor is extremely subjective and variable.]

I posted two articles way back entitled “Love Is A Battlefield And You Are Going To Be Slaughtered” and “Why Tall Men Have Prettier Girlfriends, The Correlation Of Height And Attraction” that when it comes to our most primal and basic levels, of all the qualities which a guy needs to be successful for reproduction and passing on his genes, which is really all that this universe and nature desires of us, our height is probably #1 in all the attributes we must have. So this post is not about arguing or trying to convince the reader of this point. Let’s assume that these prepositions are a given. Two famous quotes that has reached the general public’s lexicon is “Love is a battlefield” ( as nicely stately by Pat Benatar, Jordin Sparks, & Li’l Wayne) and “All is fair in love and war”

[Note 2: For our discussion for this post, I wanted to focus on the side where the female is on the short side and she chooses a tall male to mate and reproduce with. There is cases and examples where the situation is reverse where a short male chooses always to date and mate with tall females, but I wanted to focus on the more common case. Plus, we can use the same type of psychological reasoning and mathematical equations to calculate for offpring height results. ]

This huge trend has effected my siblings, myself, my parents, and my past dating life.

• One of my sisters actually left her  below average in height boyfriend to be with his friend who was tall.
• My old girlfriend left me to be with her current boyfriend who is 5-6 inches taller than me.
• The current girl I am dating specifically chose me because I was taller than most guys she has met.
• My mother never seems to be able to stop focusing on tall men if she saw one. She has to point them out and admire them from far away.
• My other old girlfriend liked me because I was tall for her.
• Another old girlfriend said the main reason her mother married her father was because he was tall
• The tallest guys I know in life are all married with kids.
• The other group of tallest guys are having a very active sex life with multiple partners.

Maybe a part of me is still stinging over what happened with me being left for another guy who is clearly much taller. I could argue that he had a better job than me, went to a better school than me, and had a brighter future on money making than me, as well being closer to her physically, but all those things are something that can be changed with enough hard work and dedication. It is the height thing that is something I have no control over and can’t change, yet.  The resentment, anger, and jealousy is definitely not that healthy. I don’t know whether I should be angry at her because she decided to “trade up” and found something better like a Machivallian strategist who is always looking for someone or something better to come along. The fact that she immediately starting dating him the same day she left me is a hard thing to swallow. That she was meeting him when we were still together (but just as “friends”) knowing full well his intentions and kindly rejecting him makes me angry, even almost 1 year later. May I find peace with this one day.

A recent email I got today from a regular reader of the website Rafael had the PDF file for Dr. Ben Kim’s Maximize Your Height E-Book attached. In my last post about this chiropractor Dr. Kim who has a doctorate of chiropractry from Canada entitled “Review On Maximize Your Height E-Product By Dr. Ben Kim” I had said at the end that I could not conclude whether he was selling something that was either a lie or was real. He never claims that the E-Book he was selling could work for people who was past physical maturity and he had a large Facebook following with many people who liked his website. He had his own podcast and he sounded credible. I was inconclusive on this guy.

Well, I think I can now safely conclude that Dr. Ben Kim is selling a book that has little to no potential to help even adolescents to grow taller. Even if the kids did grow, there is no way to know whether it was his advice or not. From the 98 page PDF files, 70 pages of it from pages 28-98 is actually filled with cooking recipes which is supposed to “help you increase your maximum height potential“. From my research, a huge number of the recipes can actually stunt growth, like the stuff on desserts and carbohydrates. Meat and highly dense protein sources has been consistently been shown to cause the nitrogen based molecular compounds (amino acids) to create proteins needed to increase in almost all cell proliferations.

If you remove also the introduction, table of contents, and other filler pages, you get rid of another 7 pages.

His 4 keys to maximizing the growth rates is to…

1. Maximize Your Body’s Production Of Growth-Related Hormones – pg. 8
2. Regularly Engage In Activities That Put Vertical Stress On Your Long Bones – pg. 13
3. Lengthen Your Muscles By Stretching Everyday – pg. 15
4. Optimally Nourish Your Bones And Muscles With A Nutrient Diet – 23

So we already see from pages 28-98 that the book is a cooking recipe book. Closer examination of the 4th key shows that it just lists off all the major useful supplements and vitamins. After that, there is another list of natural foods like vegetables after that. I personally don’t need a listing of vegetable names which are high in nutrients. So Key 4 is useless. Key 3 has diagrams on how one should stretch and do some yogic like poses. That is easily obtained from a google search for yoga poses. So Key 3 is not useful. Key 2 is 2 pages long, and the information is about the importance of stretching and a very superficial explanation of endochondral ossification and name dropping some old basketball players with not actionable tips. So not useful for Key 2. For Key 1, he spends most of the pages talking about having a good nights sleep, giving tips on how to sleep better, living with less stress, and rehashing the basics of HGH and Testosterone. The only tidbit from the entire E-Book which was new to me was the idea on increasing a compound called Erythropoietin. From the book…

What is frustration is that this compound is supposed to improve one’s stamina and overall vitality, but says nothing about chondrogenesis or osteogenesis. I think it is very clear at this point that this “Doctor” is not a real medical doctor in the medical school graduate sense. His area is natural medicine remedies, and the advice he gives is almsot all fluff. At this point, I can safely claim that Dr. Ben Kim is a “quack”, at least on the subject of height increase. Unless a person who has not idea on how the human body works wanted to get a very basic level of understanding why humans increase in height and a cooking recipe book, then this guy is not doing his duties to be helpful.

So if you want the free PDF copy of the book “Maximize Your Height, Four Keys To Growing As Tall As Your Genetics Will Allow” click HERE. This E-Book will also be listed in the “Library” section of the website for easier access for future/ new visitors and readers. 

Ever since I did the research on Alkoclar who suggested compounds like Dimethyl Icaritin and Methylprotodioscin, I have been wondering whether the compound Harpagoside had any potential to increase height. It was suggested from a forum post that I found that a harpagoside with glucosamine mixture can eleviate joint pain from arthritis. This suggests that it is similar in properties to the hyaluronic acid which is a very similar compound to the glycoaminoglycan, but missing the sulfated part. If the Hyaluronic acid/ Hyaluronan had the potential to get into the extracellular fluid of the synovial joints to create more lubrication, it would not be that hard of a stretch to wonder whether the harpagoside can do the same thing.

The first thing I noticed from typing the phrase “harpagoside height” into google is that HeightQuest.com has already done a post about the possibility already (LINK). The post seems to be in response to Alkoclar’s idea of combining the effects of Harpagoside with a new compound which I have not heard of before, Acteoside. Tyler has been very clear in showing that Alkoclar’s main way to increase height was to increase the CNP and Nitric Oxide expression, and that was where the the Methylprotodioscin came in, since he was a supplier of the compound, which seems to be made from some Chinese traditional medicinal herb. I can personally say from experience that the NO idea has some reasonable points, but the thing I have always thought was that the NO would cause the blood vessels to increase in widthfrom increased blood flow and for muscles to relax. If we remember the old infomercials on the male impotency pill Viagra, it operated on the same principle, where the pill caused the increase of Nitric Oxide, leading to muscle relaxation and blood vessel thickness increase from increased blood flow. From the Wikipedia article on Viagra/Sildenafil I am reminded that it is the smooth muscles that are relaxed. The pill somehow manages to stop the specific enzyme that causes cGMP degradation. Like always, Tyler already did a post on HeightQuest on the idea of taking Viagra to increase height already (HERE). His main point from that post was this…”CNP overexpression increased height.  Both NO and CNP cause the upregulation of cGMP. cGMP increases hypertrophic differentiation…But if cGMP can increase height then Viagra can increase height by inhibiting PDE5 which inhibits cGMP.” However, I think we are getting off topic on the idea of whether Harpagoside can really increase height. At this point, I would like to point out that this compound goes by another name, Devil’s Claw. Sounds intimidating.

Tyler had used three studies to look at the idea of whether the Harpagoside can increase height, and the main points he made from the three studies were.

1. The extract from some product called Harpagophytum lead to a a decrease in MMP-1, -3, -9 and Tyler argues that the MMP3 and MMP-9 helps height increase while MMP-13 inhibits it. The compounds seems to inhibit the good MMPs although it seems to also help by inhibiting some compound known as Cox-2, which seems to cause MMP-13.

1. Harpagoside dose-dependently inhibited LPS-stimulated NF-kappaB promoter activity

1. Acteoside suppresses phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA)-enhanced matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) expression at the protein, mRNA, and transcriptional levels through the suppression of NF-κB activation.

The main axiom I have to take from his research is that MMP-9 and MMP-3 are good for height increase through a possible increased chondrocyte proliferation and/ or hypertrophic process. I haven’t done any research on the matrix metalloproteinase compounds yet. If I however assume that he is right about the MMPs, the good ones and the bad, then the studies, which may be only just 1 study, is a reasonable good enough to suggest that Alkoclar’s idea of using either the Harpagoside and the Aceteoside compounds are wrong.

What I can agree with Tyler from this post is that a better supplement, used as an alternative to the possible Harpagoside, is to just go with Hyaluronic acid, since it has increased extracellular fluid/matrix effects making the synovial joints increase a little.

However, I wanted to try to do a little bit of research myself on the effects of Harpagoside. First it seems that Harpagoside comes from a specific type of plant, Harpagophytum procumbens. From its Wikipedia article, Harpagophytum procumbens, also called grapple plant, wood spider and most commonly devil’s claw, is a plant of the sesame family, native to South Africa. From there, it is reported that European colonists brought this plant back to be used for the treatment of arthritis. The overall plant itself seems to have three main effects, 1. Relieve Pain, 2. Reduce irritation and causes calmness, and 3. increase the rate of urination. At least one major Pharmacological group has claimed that the plant has anti-rheumatic properties (another fancy way of saying it treats arthritis).  It seems to be a good alternative to brand named prescriptions used to treat lower back pain. It was also found to be effective in treating arthritis derived hip and knee pain.

A quick search on google and PubMed on the efficacy of the effectiveness of Harpagoside as an analgesic or sedative leads to a PubMed study,” Antiinflammatory effects of different extracts and harpagoside isolated from Scrophularia frutescens L. It seems to suggest that at least for Harpagoside derived from this other type of plant, Scrophularia frutescens, it is not the real active ingredient in causing antiinflammatory effects. Other studies, like from Rheumatology journal, entitled “Effectiveness of devil’s claw for osteoarthritis” the writer makes the point that “The study showed that freeze‐dried root tubers of Harpagophytum at a dose containing 60 mg harpagoside per day was as effective as, and had fewer side‐effects than, diacerrhein…painful arthrosis and tendinitis—a dose that contains up to 90 mg of harpagoside” We see that at least from this reference that the Harpagoside has been effective in treating pain.

However, I would say the best resource I have been able to find to either validate or reject the idea that Harpagoside and the plant it is derived from has any possible height increase properties comes from this link HERE. it seems that the plant at least has chondroprotetive properties. As quoted from the article…

“Harpagophytum is chondroprotective, possibly due to inhibition of inflammatory mediators, including COX-2, leukotrienes, nitric oxide, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and interleukin-1β. In addition, matrix metalloproteinases and elastase that play key roles in cartilage degradation are inhibited. 11,19″

The cited studies were

11 – Huang TH, Tran VH, Duke RK, et al. Harpagoside suppresses lipopolysaccharide-induced iNOS and COX-2 expression through inhibition of NF-kappa B activation. J Ethnopharmacol 2006;104:149-155.

19 – Fiebich BL, Heinrich M, Hiller KO, Kammerer N. Inhibition of TNF-alpha synthesis in LPS-stimulated primary human monocytes by Harpagophytum extract SteiHap 69. Phytomedicine 2001;8:28-30.

The first citation was one that Tyler has already looked at ,at least the abstract. The 2nd one, I have the abstract below…

Abstract

Harpagophytum procumbens (Devil’s Claw) is often used in the supportive treatment of inflammatory and degenerative diseases of the skeletal system. Here we studied the anti-inflammatory properties of the Harpagophytum extract SteiHap 69 (Steiner Harpagophytum procumbens extract 69) on primary human monocytes, a useful model of peripheral inflammation. After eliminating lipopolysaccharides of bacterial origin, SteiHap 69 prevented the LPS-induced synthesis of tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) in stimulated primary human monocytes in a dose-dependent manner. Harpagide and harpagoside had no effect on LPS-induced TNFalpha-release. Our data provides evidence that the Harpagophytum extract SteiHap 69 has anti-inflammatory properties. Further studies are required in order to elucidate the molecular mechanism of Devil’s claw anti-inflammatory effects.

Conclusion: What I think is clear now is that while the harpagoside has inflammatory properties, and it may even lead to less chondrocyte damage/ degradation. That seems to be why it has been effective in treating musculoskeletal pain like arthritis, but it does not seem to have any ability in leading to chondrocyte proliferation, but can only protect it a little. This suggest that Harpagoside and the plant it comes from, the Harpagophytum don’t have any height increase properties.