My father always told me to walk tall and hold my head high.

The walking tall part wasn’t difficult for me at 6′2. And I’ve tried hard to live in such a way that I can hold my head up, too, but it hasn’t always been easy. There was the time, for example, that I shook the hand of Stephen Harper and said I was pleased to meet him. Being a hypocrite is one thing; being a liar is another. I was both.

Walking tall in its best sense has nothing do with feet and inches, of course. Napoleon probably walked tall but physically he was a runt. I like to think I walk tall, too, although over the last eight years I’ve lost a foot or so off my height. It tends to happen as we get older.

So who are the tallest people in the world? There are those who keep track of these things, you know. People who don’t have much else to do and make their living off government grants researching information useful to no one including them.

Nevertheless, I’ll make use of it in this column so that you won’t look too stunned next time you’re watching “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” with your kids. When they ask that question about the tallest people you’ll just stretch and yawn and carelessly toss out the answer: the Dutch. If you’re less than 5′ 6 yourself you’ll look even better.

Bet you thought it was the Americans, right? Nope, they’re not even second, even though they have so much money at their disposal and one of the highest standards of living in the world — for some of them. And what about all those human skyscraper-type basketball players? They go seven feet and better, or at least higher. Where did they come from?

The researchers we were mentioning earlier have come to the conclusion that your height is a combination of your daddy’s bigness and your mommy’s cooking. Or vice versa, given the times. Heredity and nutrition. Something like high cholesterol or excessive gas. You know, flatulence. Farting. Comes from your Uncle Frank or something.

Dutch men and women have always been taller than most. No one seems to know why except they have a marvelous health care system, especially for infants. You get a real good start in life and your apt to become bigger and better. Genetics seem to play a big part, too. Back 2000 years ago the men of the Low Countries were so much taller at 5′9 than their counterparts in other countries that the Roman emperor used to recruit them as guards. In short, tallness is in the genes.

In later centuries the Dutch lost their height advantage so that 200 years ago the Americans were the tallest people on earth. But with new prosperity in the last century the Dutch again regained the advantage.

Americans have been deluding themselves for decades that they have the best health care system in the world, and so they do — if you make a great salary and are part of your employer’s health-care plan. If you’re poor and/or unemployed and/or down and out, tough titty. You ain’t got no health insurance so you don’t get good care, and you’re too poor to be buying nutritious food.

Of course Americans think the Canadian health care system is the pits. It’s got its problems, sure enough, but I don’t know any Canadian who wants to get really sick in the US — any sane Canadian, that is.

Which brings me to a point. I have no idea where Canadians stand in this height thing. I do know the Dutch have a Tall Persons Club for which I would not qualify. The minimum height for men in this club is 6′3 and women 5′7. OH and two of my three daughters would be in like Flynn.

Scandinavians, in second place, have an average height of 6′, but they’re not expected to get much taller because their genetics won’t allow it. I don’t explain these things, I just The upwardly mobile Dutch, on the other hand, are expected to reach an average height of 6′3 within 50 years. Evidently their inherited genetic code allows them to keep growing until someday they’ll need airplanes, cars, buses and women built especially to their specifications.

I wasn’t tall according to Dutch standards, just an inch or so more than their average. But I can tell you even that isn’t all fun. We once lived in an old house for a year where the door heights were a little over 6 feet. Most of the time I remembered to duck, but if I left in a hurry because I was bordering on being late for school, chances were my forehead would make solid contact with the wood. The rest of me would then make equally solid contact with the floor.

The first few times that happened OH was really concerned, especially the day I knocked myself cold, and wanted to call the doctor and an ambulance and all that. However, the first time we told the doctor about it over dinner one night he laughed his fool head off. The only thing that saved our friendship was that his wife didn’t. I had one of those living will things drawn up which declared that under no circumstances, including death, was that doctor to be called to attend me.

OH got used to this happening after awhile and paid attention only when I had been comatose on the floor for at least three minutes.

The tallest living woman, by the way, isn’t Dutch. De-Fen Yao is an Asian lady who stands 7′8 1/2″. Why am I writing about this stuff at all?

Just exploring the heights of foolishness.

The University of Pittsburgh conducted research on 162 children to find out if the amount of food one eats determines one’s growth and height. After five years of study, it was determined that those children who ate the most weighed more, but did not grow taller. The research group is convinced a person’s height is governed by heredity. The majority of females continue growing until they’re 17, so you’ve got four more years to add height.

For many years, growth hormones have been given to abnormally short children to help them grow, but never routinely to old people to keep them fit. . The body’s production of growth hormone tails off steadily as people age, causing researchers to speculate that this is partly responsible for the frailty that causes senior citizens to fall and break bones. Hip fractures, in particular, are a frequent hazard that leads to over many deaths among the elderly. Two years ago, scientists at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Milwaukee reported the encouraging finding that growth hormone supplements increased “lean body mass” in a small group of healthy men aged 61 to 81. Lean body mass is the amount of one’s body composed of bone, muscle and organs, rather than fat. In the Baltimore study, 80 men and 80 women will be divided into groups receiving human growth hormone, sex hormone, combinations of the two or a placebo. Sex hormones are thought to reduce osteoporosis and prevent some heart disease in post-menopausal women. Daily treatments will stretch over six months.Small groups of patients will begin treatment on a staggered ‘ basis, with the first volunteers taking their first pills as early as next month. The entire study is i expected to last five years. The research team will be looking for any changes in fat content, muscle strength and bone density, and heart, kidney and immune function.

Scientists will also be looking for unintended side effects. For growth ‘ hormone supplements are thought to cause some people to retain fluids, a tendency that could lead to congestive “heart failure or carpal tunnel syndrome - a nerve condition marked by numb or painful fingers. Also, researchers are concerned that growth hormones could stimulate the growth of pre-existing tumors that would have stayed small or grown very slowly if left alone. In addition, there is the possibility that sex hormones could promote breast or uterine cancer in women and prostate cancer in men. Blackman said that there is at least “a theoretical possibility” that growth hormone would stimulate pre-existing cancers. Far less likely, he said; is the possibility that supplements would cause a new cancer. High cancer rates have been observed in patients suffering from acromegaly, a disease caused by excessively high levels of growth hormone. Harman. however, said the treatments would erase the hormone deficiencies of old age - raising levels to those a 25-year-old - rather than making them abnormally high. Harman said he is convinced the potential rewards justify the risks of tinkering with nature.

“‘It is often difficult to say why a boy or girl is not growing as tall as his parents would like him or her to be. A while ago Dr. Luigi Luzzatti, of Stanford University Medical .School wrote about some of the many factors that could be .involved, and that often makes the diagnosis difficult. .There are only a few glandular disturbances that can each be easily recognized, such as a defect in the function of the thyroid gland. The doctor will, of course, look at the parents to see if there is a tendency to shortness in them or in members of their families. The doctor will check, to see if there has been a normal development of the child’s, ‘mind, and of the sex organs, and of the body hair. The •physician will want to know if the child has been a normal eater, or if he has much indigestion such as could cause the food eaten not to be utilized. Also the physician will look for disturbances in the function of the kidneys.

Study Bones
An X ray study will be made of the bones, to show if the age of the long bones in the legs, corresponds with the calendar age of-the child. It is very important to see if the epiphyses (growing areas at the two ends of a long bone) are joining the shafts of the’ long bones of the legs. Once the shaft and the epiphyses (where much of the growth takes place) have joined firmly, there’ have is no chance of further growth in the height of the child. In some cases, the very important pituitary gland (at the base of the brain) could be responsible for the defect in growth, but only men working in a special laboratory can ‘tell whether or .not the pituitary secretion is adequate, and whether it contains a normal amount of ‘the “growth hormone.”

Little Treatment
Unless the physician finds ’something definitely wrong with the child, and something that can be corrected, there is not much treatment available. The giving of male hormones to a boy is very unwise, because it may actually put a stop to the linear growth of the leg bones. A yet, there is no clear cut evidence that cortisone like drugs will cause a child to grow taller. ‘As I have said before in this column, years ago, we physicians were looking forward to wonderful result when the growth hormone of the pituitary gland was not commercially available. But then it was discovered that growth hormone obtained from cattle or other animals would not work in man. Also, growth hormones obtained from dead men works best in the cases of “pituitary dwarfs.” What is sad is that as yet we physicians cannot cause a short boy to grow rapidly, and thus gain the height he wants and should have.

Beijing- China’s health ministry on Tuesday said it will curb unlicensed cosmetic surgery designed to lengthen the lower legs and increase height, after a growing number of patients became disabled or disfigured by the surgery. “Leg-lengthening surgery must only be carried out for strict medical reasons and performed in authorized hospitals,” state media quoted ministry spokesman Mao Qun’an as saying.

“Leg-lengthening surgery is a clinical orthopedic treatment, not cosmetic surgery,” Mao said.

The unregulated process usually involves breaking the patient’s shin bones, inserting steel rods and attaching a cage by which doctors can control upward and downward pressure designed to stretch the bones while they are healing.

It is popular among “young professionals desperate to climb up the ladder in the country’s height-conscious society,” the official Xinhua news agency said.

The surgery costs an average of 15,000 dollars to 25,000 dollars and takes about two years for patients to recover, the agency quoted Beijing-based experts as saying.

But many of the mainly women patients who have had the surgery in recent years were left in constant pain, and some are unable to walk unaided, earlier state media reports said.

Ten people reported disfigurements last month in Beijing alone after they underwent surgery at the city’s Xiangshan hospital last year, the agency said.

“Hospitals must inform patients of the risks of the surgery and get the patients consent,” it quoted Mao as saying

“Health departments at all levels must investigate medical institutions that illegally carry out leg-lengthening surgery and punish those without the right qualifications,” he said.

Television, magazines and newspapers also carry frequent, often wildly exaggerated advertisements for creams and medicines designed to increase people’s height.

The surgical procedure was originally developed in Russia to help patients with injured legs or birth defects such as dwarfism, the agency said.

BY the year 3000, the average human will be 6½ft tall, have coffee-coloured skin and live for 120 years, new research predicts.

And the good news does not end there.

Blokes will be chuffed to learn their willies will get bigger — and women’s boobs will become more pert.

But there is also a downside, the study suggests. We will be more prone to disease and physically weaker because of our increasing reliance on technology.

The predictions appear in a new report by evolution theorist Dr Oliver Curry, of the Darwin@LSE Research Centre at the London School Of Economics.

He looked at the impact of various technological, biological and environmental factors on the future evolution of man.

He reckons humans are set to reach their peak by the year 3000, growing taller and living longer thanks to improved nutrition, lifestyles and medical knowledge.

According to the report, commissioned to mark the 21st anniversary of TV channel Bravo, race will become a thing of the past as we will all have the same coloured skin.

Dr Curry says: “Race is only skin deep. There was a time when we were all the same colour. As we become more interconnected throughout the world, racial difference is likely to be diluted.

“Humans are likely to move towards a uniform ‘coffee’ skin tone.”

Dr Curry continues: “People of the year 3000 will have reached the peak of human enhancement, leading the longest, healthiest and most accomplished lives in the entire history of the human race.

“Improved nutrition and understanding of the human body will see people grow taller, with men reaching an average height of between six and seven feet, while lifespans will also be far greater, with humans living for up to 120 years.”

Dr Curry also claims men and women will also become better-looking by the next Millennium in order to attract a mate.

He says: “Our ideas of what we find attractive will evolve and as a result we will develop technologies that will enable us to upgrade ourselves.

“Through turbo-charged cosmetic surgery techniques and genetic engineering, we will try to fit in with what the opposite sex finds attractive.”

As a result men are expected to exhibit symmetrical facial features, athleticism and the classic signs of testosterone such as a square jaw, deeper voice and larger manhood.

Women will have smooth hairless skin, large clear eyes, pert breasts, glossy hair and symmetrical features.

But while mankind is expected to reach its brilliant best in the year 3,000, the outlook further along the evolutionary chain is less rosy.

According to the report, 10,000 years from now the human race will pay the genetic price for its over-reliance on technology.

Dr Curry, 33, says: “It all sounds a lot of fun to begin with but humans are going to experience the equivalent of a genetic hangover as we rely more and more on technology.

“One way to look at it is that we will become a bit weedy — like domestic animals who need to be looked after.

“Skills such as communicating and interacting with others will be degraded, leaving humans less able to care for others.

“There is also the danger that reliance on medicine and obsession with hygiene is likely to lead to a deterioration in the immune system. If we are all popping pills, diseases such as cancer won’t be weeded out of the gene pool.”

It is also predicted that humans will lose their jaw structure due to a lack of chewing needed to eat processed foods.

According to the report, the number of caesarian sections will rise as mothers give birth to larger infants.

Much further in the future, the report foresees a kind of genetic class system developing where humans become more choosy about their partners.

About 100,000 years from now, mankind may be divided into two distinct groups — with the genetic elite moving in more exclusive circles and losing contact with the rest of society.

The genetic “haves” will be tall, thin symmetrical, clean, healthy, intelligent and creative.

The genetic “have nots” will be short, stocky, asymmetrical, grubby, unhealthy and not as bright.

Dr Curry adds: “It is kind of like Angelina Jolie having a baby with Brad Pitt. A genetic elite will be created by what is known as ‘assortative mating’.

“It is like the two best tennis players in the world getting together. In a more interconnected world, it will become easier and easier for these kinds of people to meet up.

“While science and technology have the potential to create an ideal habitat for humanity over the next millennium, there is also the possibility of a monumental genetic hangover.

“We certainly can’t predict definitely what is going to happen but we can make educated predictions based on our understanding of how evolution works.

Li Ping, an attractive 23-year-old from Beijing, split up with her boyfriend, checked into a clinic and paid doctors £1,600 to break her legs, just because she felt a little on the short side.

Over the next few weeks, the fractured ends of her tibias were braced, pinned and gradually screwed apart to extend the bones as they fused together again.

Miss Li was and remains an enthusiast for an extreme form of the current Asian fashion for cosmetic surgery - artificial leg extensions.

She is also an example of the dangers posed by an expanding and often unscrupulous private health care system in China, in which state-trained doctors can nowadays branch out for money with very little supervision or regulation.

Miss Li’s legs failed to grow together properly. Despite the dramatic nature of the surgery, she was sent home in 20 days. Six months later she was in great pain and still unable to walk properly.

She is one of at least 10 cases of patients crippled by the same clinic, attached to the Fragrant Hills Hospital in western Beijing, which led to its being closed down this week and warnings from the ministry of health of the surgery’s dangers.

But officials admit that though the clinic was not of the necessary standard to carry out the procedure, it may have done nothing illegal.

The transactions were arranged through a registered website, and the clinic did not fall under the ministry’s supervision.

Leg extension surgery is a recognised form of treatment for severe cases of orthopaedic disorder such as dwarfism, with a few operations every year in the West.

But in China it has become a popular way to boost height for the short and even the not-so-short. Miss Li, who has been given a pseudonym at her request, was just over 5ft 1in before her operation, but wanted to grow two and a half inches.

Other women having the operation at the same time, she said, were over 5ft 4in, above the average woman’s height in China.

Dr Xia Hetao, who runs Beijing’s largest leg extension clinic and is now trying to repair the damage done to Miss Li and other victims, said that of his 150 patients a year, only five per cent suffered severe leg deformities.

Just under four in five could be called short, while for the other 17 per cent the treatment was purely cosmetic.

There is status attached to being taller in China, where height is seen as sign of wealth and Westernisation. Employers happily admit considering both looks and height important in applicants. As well as more obvious careers in the police and military, the Foreign Ministry has a minimum height requirement for recruits, as it does not want its diplomats to be looked down upon in negotiations.

But Miss Li, who was training as a pharmacist, had no career reason for her decision. “I just felt too short,” she said at Dr Xia’s Guangji Hospital, just before a new operation to readjust the angle at which her bones have grown back.

Xiangshan Hospital said that it had closed its leg extension clinic since the reports of injuries.

It did not explain why it allowed the hospital to be used by a web-based firm set up by an entrepreneur for operations carried out by surgeons with no specialist expertise.

The entrepreneur, Zhang Chunjiang, is now said to be in hiding. Thousands of women have been maimed in simpler forms of cosmetic surgery, including a case where breast implants made of a chemical that is banned in the west leaked into women’s bodies and rotted flesh tissue.

Miss Li said she still did not regret having the operation.

She has been told that by next April she will be able to walk normally again – at her new height.

THERE IS a theory which states that men shorter than 6 ft are generally smarter than their tall brothers. Of course, there are some exceptions to the rule, though unfortunately none come to mind at the moment. On a more serious note, though, there are some unique tall men such as the Prime Minister of Jamaica and the President of the USA.

It is said that short men are always trying to make up for their height disadvantage. But, could it be that what tall men have gained in height they have lost in intelligence? It is also widely assumed that women are more attracted to ‘tall, dark and handsome’ men. However, Casanova was not tall. Furthermore, women are more attracted to a lyrical ability than his physique. And some tall men have been known to have a particular short-coming. Don’t get me wrong. Tall men are useful even if it is to reach up and pick a mango. But, look in the bank, guess who is the owner; look in the hospital guess who is the doctor. Tall is great, but short is even greater.

In fact, there have been some heroic short men, such as Martin Luther King, Marcus Garvey and Gandhi, who through their courage and patriotism made a difference in the world. This is not meant as a vendetta against tall men. After all it’s not their fault that they have to look up to great, short men.

You don’t have to wear black everyday to look your sleekest. Try these simple figure flattering tips to elongate your body.

1. Opt for a monochromatic outfit.
2. Add contrast color or texture with a blazer, cardigan or overshirt.
3. Leave the blazer or cardigan unbuttoned for maximum vertical lines.
4. Any stripes on the garment should be vertical.
5. Choose scarves tied loosely with long, vertical dangling ends.
6. Match pantyhose hue to skirt or pant and shoe color.
7. Avoid big belts, which can cut you in half visually.
8. Use long necklaces or pendants and avoid chokers.
9. Wear skirts that are longer than they are wide.
10. Choose shoes with at least an inch heel: the taller the better.
11. Elongate the neck with V-necks.

I’s important for anyone desiring more height to maximize the length of their legs using the right leg lengthening exercises.

The exercises below will be used to lengthen your legs:

Leg Lengthening Exercises - Cycling

In order for cycling to help your legs get longer, you will need to raise the seat of your bike approximately 3 - 4 inches higher than normal. It may be a bit more difficult at first to ride your bike in this manner, but doing this is one of the best ways to force your legs to stretch and
lengthen.

For safety, you may want to experiment with this on a stationary exercise bike first. Cycle for 15 - 20 minutes every other day (3 times per week) at a moderate pace.

Leg Lengthening Exercises - Jumping Rope

Relive your childhood and break out the jump rope. Jumping rope puts a lot of stress on your shins which, when combined with proper rest afterwards, will help to lengthen your legs.

For maximum stress, jump with both of your legs at the same time. Remember to keep your body weight on the balls of your feet. Perform as many jumps as you can for 5 minutes.

Jump rope every other day (3 times per week). Specifically, jump rope on the days when you are NOT cycling.

Leg Lengthening Exercises - Sprints

Sprinting is simply running as fast as you can for a very short distance. There are two ways is
which sprints will help you to develop longer legs:

1. Sprints (a.k.a. interval training) helps to temporarily boost the amount of growth hormone secreted by the pituitary gland, which in turn helps to initiate growth.

2. Sprints are one of the best ways to stress your leg bones very quickly. In fact, if you only had time for one leg exercise activity on a given day, then doing a few sprints would be the
best choice.

Be careful when doing sprints because you can easily develop shin splints if you overload yourself with too many sprints and not enough rest. For sufficient growth, you will only need to do 4-6 sprints of 40-60 yards 3 days a week.

Leg Lengthening Exercises - Jumping

There are 2 recommended jumps. The first jump is to jump up onto a bench and jump back off. You can do this with both legs or 1 leg at a time. You can get more done by doing both legs at the same time. These will be rapid jumps. Each jump will last less than 1 second. Do 10 jumps then rest 30 seconds.

The second jump will be to jump as high as you can. The primary goal is to extend your legs fully. Keep your legs straight while in the air and your feet directly under you. Land on the balls of your feet - not on your heels.

These are more intense and require more resting. Do a jump then rest 5-15 seconds depending on your fitness level.

Leg Lengthening Exercises - Swimming

Doing the breast stroke. Master this stroke and you will notice results. Try doing 15-20 minutes of the breast stroke over a period of 30 minutes.

Follow these leg lengthening exercises and you will be able to increase your height faster.