EMS-AF
Just have everything
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- May 29, 2025
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The main mechanism of how body fat influences your development is through aromatase converting testosterone into estrogen. Now immediatly this seems like a mechanism that you want to inhibit as much as possible by lowering your body fat, for many reasons, one being estrogen being the cause of growth plate closure.
However many studies have shown that BMI postively correlates with adult height, this means that the increased aromatase activity does not cause an increase in estrogen, what might be the cause of this? I believe it could be hypogonadism, which is also caused by the increased BMI. In my experience fat boys show less and slower masculinization, which is a symptom of hypogonadism. Hypogonadism means lower sex hormones, so less testoserone -> less estrogen, even though there is more aromatase, it doesnt have significant substrate -> slower closing of growth plates.
What causes growth then? A higher BMI is correlated with increased blood sugar, which would increase IGF-1 and cause lenght wise bone growth. A higher BMI is also the cause of a caloric surplus, which would increase thyroid hormone, which is also responsible for lenghtwise bone growth. +1 for Nocturnal Kent.
Testosterone is often believed to cause growth in the body, which it does, but mostly in muscle, in bones it is mostly responsible for width and thickness, which doesnt matter for height but does matter for dimorphism in the face.
An example in a disease where we see a positive relationship between hypogonadism and adult height is Klinefelters syndrome, which causes extreme hypogondism
that results in infertility and low testosterone, but their adult are on average 2 to 3 inches taller than expected, if they didnt have the syndrome.
TL;DR: Higher bodyfat leads to increased adult height because of hypogonadism, leading to slower estrogen and causing slower growth plate closure.
Conclusion:
Does this mean you should nuke your hormones to increase your height potential? I dont know, the side effects of being fat and hypogonadal in adolescence would probably cause more harm than gain from the extra height. However if you're past the age of 16-18 where your height wont increase much more, there is zero reason to be overweight, as from then on you want to increase your testosterone to increase masculinization, and width of thickness of facial bones, which still happens into your late 20s.
What do you cels think the approach should be with this information?
However many studies have shown that BMI postively correlates with adult height, this means that the increased aromatase activity does not cause an increase in estrogen, what might be the cause of this? I believe it could be hypogonadism, which is also caused by the increased BMI. In my experience fat boys show less and slower masculinization, which is a symptom of hypogonadism. Hypogonadism means lower sex hormones, so less testoserone -> less estrogen, even though there is more aromatase, it doesnt have significant substrate -> slower closing of growth plates.
What causes growth then? A higher BMI is correlated with increased blood sugar, which would increase IGF-1 and cause lenght wise bone growth. A higher BMI is also the cause of a caloric surplus, which would increase thyroid hormone, which is also responsible for lenghtwise bone growth. +1 for Nocturnal Kent.
Testosterone is often believed to cause growth in the body, which it does, but mostly in muscle, in bones it is mostly responsible for width and thickness, which doesnt matter for height but does matter for dimorphism in the face.
An example in a disease where we see a positive relationship between hypogonadism and adult height is Klinefelters syndrome, which causes extreme hypogondism
that results in infertility and low testosterone, but their adult are on average 2 to 3 inches taller than expected, if they didnt have the syndrome.
TL;DR: Higher bodyfat leads to increased adult height because of hypogonadism, leading to slower estrogen and causing slower growth plate closure.
Conclusion:
Does this mean you should nuke your hormones to increase your height potential? I dont know, the side effects of being fat and hypogonadal in adolescence would probably cause more harm than gain from the extra height. However if you're past the age of 16-18 where your height wont increase much more, there is zero reason to be overweight, as from then on you want to increase your testosterone to increase masculinization, and width of thickness of facial bones, which still happens into your late 20s.
What do you cels think the approach should be with this information?
