19 replies to this topic

[VictorBjoerk]

I've heard that tall people generally live shorter than small people.What are the major arguments to why it should be like that?

What are your opinions,does anyone have access to studies correlating height and longevity?

Heights of some of the the worlds oldest people ever

Jeanne Calment= 4'11
Shigechiyo Izumi=4'8
Marie-Louise Meilleur=4'11
Christian Mortensen=5'4
Edna Parker=5'0

They are all exceptionally small.Any ideas why it is like this?

[forever freedom]

I don't know but if there is really some sort of correlation me and my 6'4'' are screwed.

[mike250]

I'm screwed big time if thats the case. those guys are pretty dwarfish

Edited by mike250, 25 May 2008 - 01:13 AM.

[forever freedom]

A list with the heights of supercentenarians could be done; would be interesting. I'm afraid it is for real that smaller people have a higher chance of living longer.

[mike250]

so what are the odds for tall people (6'4 + )?

[spaceistheplace]

man, i am so dead.

[Ghostrider]

so what are the odds for tall people (6'4 + )?

Well, it's probably not so much height, but it could be related to calorie intake. Smaller people tend to be shorter...smaller people tend to consume fewer calories. Although by the same argument, mice should live longer than elephans and this is certainly not the case. Guess it only holds within species if it holds at all.

On the other hand, if there is a correlation between brain size and intelligence, then taller people and hance people with bigger heads might be smarter...of course elephants are not smarter than humans, so that might not hold either.

[niner]

One of the Mprize winners was a growth hormone receptor knockout mouse. They're little, and they live a long time. Must be something to this...

Curr Top Dev Biol. 2004;63:189-225.
Life extension in the dwarf mouse. Bartke A, Brown-Borg H.

Geriatrics Research, Department of Medicine, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, Illinois 62794, USA.

Ames dwarf mice and Snell dwarf mice lack growth hormone (GH), prolactin (PRL), and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), live much longer than their normal siblings, and exhibit many symptoms of delayed aging. "Laron dwarf mice," produced by targeted disruption of the GH receptor/GH-binding protein gene (GHR-KO mice), are GH resistant and also live much longer than normal animals from the same line. Isolated GH deficiency in "little" mice is similarly associated with increased life span, provided that obesity is prevented by reducing fat content in the diet. Long-lived dwarf mice share many phenotypic characteristics with genetically normal (wild-type) animals subjected to prolonged caloric restriction (CR) but are not CR mimetics. We propose that mechanisms linking GH deficiency and GH resistance with delayed aging include reduced hepatic synthesis of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), reduced secretion of insulin, increased hepatic sensitivity to insulin actions, reduced plasma glucose, reduced generation of reactive oxygen species, improved antioxidant defenses, increased resistance to oxidative stress, and reduced oxidative damage. The possible role of hypothyroidism, reduced body temperature, reduced adult body size, delayed puberty, and reduced fecundity in producing the long-lived phenotype of dwarf mice remains to be evaluated. An important role of IGF-1 and insulin in the control of mammalian longevity is consistent with the well-documented actions of homologous signaling pathways in invertebrates.

PMID: 15536017

[Matt]

so what are the odds for tall people (6'4 + )?

Well, it's probably not so much height, but it could be related to calorie intake. Smaller people tend to be shorter...smaller people tend to consume fewer calories. Although by the same argument, mice should live longer than elephans and this is certainly not the case. Guess it only holds within species if it holds at all.

On the other hand, if there is a correlation between brain size and intelligence, then taller people and hance people with bigger heads might be smarter...of course elephants are not smarter than humans, so that might not hold either.

Smaller dogs also live longer than bigger dogs too.

However most smaller people that I know tend to be fatter, simply because they are consuming the same foods as people who are much taller. I hope the height thing is a factor in male longevity as well. I believe at 5ft 7" I'm at least 2-3" smaller than the average here in the UK/

Edit:

Here are the average height of males and females in various countries
http://en.wikipedia....ki/Human_height

Edited by Matt, 25 May 2008 - 12:54 PM.

[VictorBjoerk]

I just found out that Julie Winnefred Bertrand measured 5'10 and weighed 150 pounds which is quite large for a female. And she lived to 115...However she seems to be the exception...............

[VictorBjoerk]

Could the smaller size of women and japanese people be correlated to their longevity compared to large western men?

[caston]

In nature it seems that a growing organism is a non-senescent organism. If possible it would be nice to maintain slow and steady growth and neurogensis throughout life.

[VictorBjoerk]

In nature it seems that a growing organism is a non-senescent organism. If possible it would be nice to maintain slow and steady growth and neurogensis throughout life.

Why should it be like that for humans,humans age in a similar way regardless if you stop growing or not.
Otherwise the 16th century castrated boys should still be alive and well.They never stopped growing and became extremely tall in later life however...

Ostriches stop growing at 9-10 months and can live to 100!

[caston]

Why should it be like that for humans,humans age in a similar way regardless if you stop growing or not.

Well the one major problem is that the growth is uneven. The heart doesn't grow for instance. I believe the tallest man in the world had an operation go wrong
and his brain now continues to release growth hormone. He is suffering becaue organs such as his heart struggle to keep up with him.

Otherwise the 16th century castrated boys should still be alive and well.They never stopped growing and became extremely tall in later life however...

Are you talking Uniches? Now that's an interesting subject. Apparently Uniches look much younger than their age and remain "beautiful" much longer. I think it has
been suggested their lower testoserone levels keep them youthful or perhaps it's like the nemotode worms that had their reproductive cells knocked out!

I wasn't aware they kept growing though. Where did you read this?

Ostriches stop growing at 9-10 months and can live to 100!

Of course there are other pathways involved. Birds must have a lot of proteins that aren't easy damaged by oxidation.

Edited by caston, 26 May 2008 - 12:57 PM.

[VictorBjoerk]

Why should it be like that for humans,humans age in a similar way regardless if you stop growing or not.

Well the one major problem is that the growth is uneven. The heart doesn't grow for instance. I believe the tallest man in the world had an operation go wrong
and his brain now continues to release growth hormone. He is suffering becaue organs such as his heart struggle to keep up with him.

Otherwise the 16th century castrated boys should still be alive and well.They never stopped growing and became extremely tall in later life however...

Are you talking Uniches? Now that's an interesting subject. Apparently Uniches look much younger than their age and remain "beautiful" much longer. I think it has
been suggested their lower testoserone levels keep them youthful or perhaps it's like the nemotode worms that had their reproductive cells knocked out!

I wasn't aware they kept growing though. Where did you read this?

Ostriches stop growing at 9-10 months and can live to 100!

Of course there are other pathways involved. Birds must have a lot of proteins that aren't easy damaged by oxidation.

If you have a pituitary tumour producing too much GH and have finished growing your organs grow in size even though you don't grow taller.If you have excess growth hormone your heart as well as other organs will grow in size and that's certainly not a good thing.I think you are referring to Leonid Stadnyk,the tallest man in the world and his organs are in proportion to his size if not even excessively large.His heart isn't too small for him.

Eunuchs may have child-like bodies without hair and shrill voices but they still reach senescence like other people.
http://images.china....0712/415318.jpg

And yes there are many metabolic pathways that varies between animals.

[mike250]

I think Leonid was 8'11 or something around that mark.

[VictorBjoerk]

When checking things up at wikipedia Leonid is 8'5 or 257 cm tall

http://en.wikipedia..../Leonid_Stadnyk

[gavrilov]

I've heard that tall people generally live shorter than small people.What are the major arguments to why it should be like that?

What are your opinions,does anyone have access to studies correlating height and longevity?

Heights of some of the the worlds oldest people ever

Jeanne Calment= 4'11
Shigechiyo Izumi=4'8
Marie-Louise Meilleur=4'11
Christian Mortensen=5'4
Edna Parker=5'0

They are all exceptionally small.Any ideas why it is like this?

Where this data came from?

Any references would be greatly appreciated.

Also at what age were the measurements made?

Thanks!

[VictorBjoerk]

I've heard that tall people generally live shorter than small people.What are the major arguments to why it should be like that?

What are your opinions,does anyone have access to studies correlating height and longevity?

Heights of some of the the worlds oldest people ever

Jeanne Calment= 4'11
Shigechiyo Izumi=4'8
Marie-Louise Meilleur=4'11
Christian Mortensen=5'4
Edna Parker=5'0

They are all exceptionally small.Any ideas why it is like this?

Where this data came from?

Any references would be greatly appreciated.

Also at what age were the measurements made?

Thanks!

http://www.demogr.mpg.de/ search for Christian Mortensen

He was measured aged 21 when he arrived to the United States from Denmark

Marie-Louise Meilleur was reported after her death to have stood 4'11 in her obituary in a french-canadian magazine

Shigechiyo was measured by Guinness in his later years so he may have shrunk

Jeanne Calment was reported by Swedish media in 1995 aged 120 to be 4'11 tall.I don't know if this was her original height or due to spinal curvature associated with old age,

Edna Parker is quoted by many sources if you type her name in google to be 5 feet tall.

[Ghostrider]

Posted under new thread.

Edited by Ghostrider, 27 May 2008 - 05:43 PM.