Does testosterone make you taller?

This article was reviewed by Darragh O’Carroll, MD. 

Does Testosterone Make You Taller? Here’s What Science Says

Key takeaways:

• Your final height is mostly a matter of genetics, but nutrition, overall health, and hormones — including testosterone and growth hormone — influence growth during childhood and adolescence.
• Testosterone helps fuel the puberty growth spurt by boosting growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). However, the androgen also speeds up growth-plate closure, which limits how tall you’ll ultimately get.
• Low testosterone in boys can delay puberty and blunt the growth spurt, but treating low T usually helps them reach their genetically predicted height.
• Taking testosterone as an adult won’t make you taller. Once growth plates fuse at the end of puberty, height can’t increase further.

Your height is mostly a matter of genetics, but hormones like testosterone, human growth hormone, and thyroid hormone contribute during childhood and adolescence. Even so, taking testosterone as an adult won’t suddenly give you the height of a pro basketball player.

In this article, we’ll break down what really determines height, how testosterone can affect growth when you’re young, and why the hormone won’t make you taller once you’re fully grown.

What Factors Determine Height?

For the most part, genetics pre-determine your height, but nutrition, overall health, and hormones contribute to your growth potential.

Here’s how:

• Genetics. No matter where you live, genetics play a significant role in height by the time you reach adolescence and adulthood. Genetic variation in height peaks around age 13 for girls and 14 for boys, right around the time when puberty hits. This overlap suggests that genes influencing puberty (like the timing of growth spurts) also affect final height.
• Nutrition and overall health. Other research suggests that nutrition, especially protein quality and intake, is another crucial factor that can affect height. Studies also show that calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin D contribute to height and the overall physical development of children due to the way the nutrients can affect bone growth.
• Environmental factors. Your genes may set the blueprint for height, but your environment — especially in early childhood — can limit how much of that potential you reach. Childhood diseases like pneumonia can “scar” growth by diverting energy from bone development. This helps explain the 20th-century rise in average height and drop in childhood disease and mortality.
• Hormones. Reproductive hormones like testosterone and estrogen, along with growth hormone (GH), thyroid hormone, and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), all influence height by acting on the growth plates of long bones (like the femur and tibia). GH and IGF-1, in particular, stimulate bone lengthening during the growing years, while reproductive hormones drive the puberty growth spurt and eventually trigger growth-plate closure.

Let’s take an even closer look at the connection between testosterone and height.

Does Testosterone Make You Taller?

Research shows that testosterone plays a major role in height, but only during puberty. In boys, testosterone levels rise sharply at the same time as growth hormone and estradiol, a potent form of estrogen. Together, these hormones drive the pubertal growth spurt.

As testosterone surges, it triggers secondary reproductive characteristics like body hair, a deeper voice, and length of the privates, and it also contributes to rapid increases in body height. Research supports that peak height velocity in boys corresponds with this hormonal rise, linking testosterone directly to the growth spurt.

One way testosterone supports this process is by stimulating the release and action of GH, which, in turn, boosts IGF-1. These signals act together to accelerate bone lengthening and height growth during the adolescent years.

What Happens to Height When Testosterone Levels Are Too Low?

Boys with low testosterone levels, such as those with congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (CHH), may experience delayed growth at certain stages of development.

Normally, infant boys have a brief surge of testosterone in the first few months of life (called “minipuberty”), but this is absent in boys with CHH, leading to slower growth early on. During childhood, however, GH and IGF-1 are what mainly drive growth, so boys with CHH often grow at a normal pace despite having low testosterone.

The difference becomes clear again in adolescence, when testosterone normally fuels the pubertal growth spurt. Without those normal testosterone levels, boys with CHH typically fall behind their peers in height. With timely hormone therapy to induce puberty, though, most eventually reach adult heights consistent with their genetic potential (mid-parental height).

Does Higher Testosterone Make You Taller?

You may think that because low testosterone in boys can impede growth, having more testosterone would mean greater height — but that’s not necessarily true.

Testosterone is important for triggering the pubertal growth spurt, and higher levels can accelerate height velocity during those years. But there’s a catch: Case reports of rapid-tempo puberty conclude that sharp rises in testosterone may accelerate skeletal maturation and close growth plates early, leading to shorter adult height than predicted.

While more research is needed in order to confirm that conclusion, the evidence supports that higher testosterone may make you shoot up faster in your teens, but it can also stop growth sooner, reducing overall height. That’s why hormonal balance is key to proper growth.

Does Taking Testosterone Make You Taller?

Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) is a hormone treatment approved by the Food and Drug Administration that can help ease symptoms of low testosterone, like low sex drive, fatigue, decreased muscle mass, and reduced bone density.

Despite its many benefits, TRT won’t increase height in fully grown adults because our growth plates close toward the end of puberty.

Research in boys with delayed puberty shows that testosterone therapy helps trigger normal growth and puberty, but their final adult height still matches their genetic target, not a taller final height.

“Testosterone plays a key role in determining height by driving the growth spurt that happens during puberty,” says Mike Bohl, MD, a general practitioner and Senior Director of Medical Content & Authority at Hims & Hers. “It stimulates growth hormone and insulin-like growth factors to accelerate bone growth, but it also eventually causes the growth plates to close, setting a limit on final height.”

Even in transgender boys treated with puberty blockers and, later on, testosterone, research shows that adult height ends up normal — or sometimes slightly taller than predicted. But, it never goes beyond genetic limits once growth plates have fused.

The Bottom Line

While your genes do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to height, hormones play a key role during the growing years.

Growth hormone, IGF-1, thyroid hormone, and reproductive hormones like testosterone and estrogen all work together to determine how much and how fast you grow.

The effects of testosterone are especially visible in puberty. It fuels the growth spurt, helps build muscle mass, strengthens bones, supports reproductive development, and contributes to overall well-being.

But timing matters. The same testosterone surge that helps you grow taller in adolescence also accelerates growth-plate closure. Once those plates fuse at the end of puberty, no testosterone treatment can make you taller. That’s why a healthcare professional should guide any concerns about growth or hormone balance. This is especially for teenage cases, when there’s still a chance for the person to reach full potential (literally) as an adult.

Can low testosterone during puberty stunt growth?

Yes. Low testosterone can delay puberty and blunt the growth spurt, leading to shorter stature if left untreated. A healthcare professional can confirm hormone levels with a blood test and recommend therapy if needed.

Can testosterone treatment make adults taller?

No. Once growth plates close after puberty, testosterone treatment won’t add inches. However, if started early, treatment may help children with delayed puberty or those undergoing gender-affirming therapy grow to a normal height.

Does testosterone help with bone density as an adult?

Yes. Testosterone therapy can improve bone density in men with low T, which lowers fracture risk. It may also improve muscle mass, energy, and drive, but it won’t increase height. Find out how to get your testosterone levels tested at home, as a first step.

Related:

• Does Testosterone Make You Gain Weight? How the Two Connect
• Testosterone Replacement Therapy: Benefits, Side Effects, and What You Need to Know

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This article originally appeared on Hims.com and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org.