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Tom Samaras, Reventropy Associates

Editorial Article

Important Publications

Many papers have provided reasons for why women live longer than men. These include XX vs. XY chromosomes, sex hormones, and better care of their health. These factors certainly can affect male and female health, but none of these factors has been proven to explain the actual difference that exists in life expectancy between the sexes. However, a factor commonly ignored is the size difference between men and women. Past research has shown that differences in male and female height and associated life expectancy are related by similar but inverse percentages (such as 8% taller and 9% shorter life expectancy). A new paper provides comprehensive evidence that supports early findings that shorter height is a major factor in explaining why women live longer. To test the inverse relation between height and life expectancy, a list of 30 developed countries was used to compare height and life expectancy differences between men and women. The results showed men were 7.8% taller and had an 8.5% lower life expectancy. These results are similar to previous study findings in 1992, 2003, and 2009. They are also consistent with scores of studies showing shorter or smaller body size is related to lower mortality and greater longevity. VIEW HERE 

The above findings are consistent with over 100 studies showing shorter, smaller individuals tend to have lower chronic disease and mortality and live longer. Numerous biological and related factors support these findings.

Observations on Body Size by Other Scientists

Observations by various scientists on human height or body size  are given below. Only a few are presented out of a list of 119 similar comments.

“...the smaller the mean height at age 18 in a province, the higher the chance for people living there to reach high chronological ages.”  My note: based on about 1.3 million deaths.

Source: Holzenberger et al. Decelerated growth and longevity in men. Arch Gerontol Geriatr 1991, 13, 89-101

“It seems that being bigger, and presumably better, comes with very high costs.” [The costs he is referring to are higher levels of cancer and heart disease.]

Source: p. 102 Campbell & Campbell. The China Study. 2006, Benbella, Texas.

“Smaller individuals of the same species, including humans, also tend to live longer.” p.572

Source: de Magalhaes JP and Faragher RGA. Cell divisions and mammalian aging:  integrative biology insights from genes that regulate longevity. BioEssays 2008, 30, 567-578.

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Aims of "Reventropy Associates"

Reventropy Associates was established in 1993 to focus on the ramifications of a world population that is constantly increasing in height and body weight. While many researchers have delved into specific areas of human height and growth, none has been devoted to the systematic evaluation of this critical area of human civilization.

Tom Samaras founded Reventropy Associates and has worked with Harold Elrick, MD, Lowell H. Storms, PhD and Jonn Desnoes, MD, PhD, OMD, Andrzej Bartke, PhD, David Rollo, Ph.D, Stephen Marson, PhD, John Lillis, PhD, and Geoffrey Cannon (former Director of Science, World Cancer Research Fund) to provide critical analyses of the various impacts of larger body size on our society and the earth.He has focused on how our society promotes larger human size through nutritional and health systems. Tom and his associates have examined the impact  of maternal and child nutrition, birth weight, rapid growth, early sexual maturation and attaining maximum height on long-term health and longevity. The findings of his research have been published in numerous papers world wide and two books are shown below:

The Truth About Your Height  The Human Body Size

"The Truth about Your Height" is now available on Amazon's Kindle, 2020

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Tom has appeared in "Who's Who in America" for 15 years!
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"Who's Who in America" endeavors to profile the leaders of American society; those men and women who are influencing their nation's development.

Tom Samaras

Tom Samaras

Related studies by other researchers

  • Martinez JA, et al. Mortality of NBA players. Appl. Sci. 2019, 9, 500;  View here
  • Ma W, et al. Adult height, dietary patterns and healthy aging. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2017, 106, 2, 589-596. View here
  • Lemez S, et al. Do “big guys” really die younger? PLoS ONE 2017, 12(10): e0185617/ View here
  • Chmielewski P. The relationship between adult stature and longevity. Anthropological Review 2016, 79(4). 439-460. View here
  • Sohn K. Now, the taller die earlier: The curse of cancer. J. Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Scie 2016, 71(6): 713-719. View here
  • Ringsby TH, et al. On being the right size: Increased body size is associated with reduced telomere length under natural conditions . Proceedings of The Royal Society B 2015, View here
  • Shapiro, Streja, et al. Association of height with mortality in patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol . 2015, View here
  • He Q, et al. Shorter men live longer. 2014, PLoS ONE 9(5): e94385. View here
  • Bartke A. Healthy aging: is smaller better? Gerontology 2012, 58(4): 337-343. View here
  • Mueller U. and Mazur A. Tallness comes with higher mortality in two cohorts of US army officers. Paper submitted at XXVI IUSSP International Population Conference, 2009. View here

Interesting Findings

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is responsible for 126,000 deaths per year. A large Harvard study found that good nutrition can help you avoid this disease. For example, fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fish promote healthy lungs and reduce the risk. In contrast, refined grains, red meat, and cured meats increase the risk.
Source: Harvard Men’s Health Watch, 2010, vol 14, No. 7, pp 1-3.

Observations by Other Scientists

“...the smaller the mean height at age 18 in a province, the higher the chance for people living there to reach high chronological ages.” My note: based on about 1.3 million deaths.

Tom Samaras' News

Publications of Interest

Wilhelmsen and colleagues tracked 67-year old men to 90 years of age and found that men who were shorter at 67 years tended to have better survival than taller men. See page 8 in Wilhelmsen L, Svardsudd K, Eriksson H, et al. Factors associated with reaching 90 years of age: a study of men born in 1913 in Gothenburg, Sweden. J Intern Med 2011; 269:441-451. Doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2796.2010.02331

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Tom’s review of research findings on the health risks related to higher birth weight, rapid growth, early maturation and taller stature was recently published in the Women’s Health Bulletin. See: Samaras TT. Health risks of higher birth weight, rapid growth, early maturation and taller height. Women’s Health Bulletin. 2015 July; 2(3):e26805

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Important findings from Sardinia show that shorter people live longer. The new study, authored by Salaris, Poulain and Samaras was recently published by the journal Biodemography and Social Biology.

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Latest News

A recent paper reported on the hidden benefits of shorter, smaller bodies. The report indicates that shorter, smaller people have faster reaction times, greater endurance, greater strength to weight ratio, and are more agile. They also have less cancer risk and lower intakes of toxins due to lower consumption of liquids and solid foods. See Samaras T. Hidden benefits of shorter, smaller bodies, JSRR 19(2), 2018, article no JSRR.40878. DOI: 10.9734/JSRR/2018/40878
See publication list.

  • The close inverse relationship between male and female height and life expectancy.
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  • Aims of "Reventropy Associates"
  • Observations on Body Size by Other Scientists
  • Sweet foods fed to pregnant women
  • A new article in Carnegie Council for Ethics
  • An Italian Study Confirms Tom's findings

Newsflash

Research by Sharrow and Anderson (PLoSOne, 2016) found that twins survived longer than singletons. While not mentioned by the authors, the facts are that twins weigh about 2 pounds less than singletons at birth and tend to grow up being slightly lighter and shorter based on other studies. Identical twins, who tend to be the smallest, had a better survival rate vs. larger fraternal twins as well.

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