Can supplements make kids grow taller?

There are lots of things for parents to fret about these days—including having kids who lag behind in growth. 

And for good reason: Height is a hallmark of social status; each extra inch of height can lead to approximately $789 more in annual pay, according to one study. Over a 30-year career, a 6-foot tall person could earn about $166,000 more than someone who is 5’5″. 

We have Miracle-Gro®️ for our houseplants – Why not for kids?

Hence a flurry of products that purport to “support kids’ growth”, with enticing names like “Doctor Taller”, “TruHeight”, “Height Growth Maximizer”, “Height Plus Teenage Boys” and even a kids version of Ensure®️ called PediaSure®️ Grow and Gain.

It’s estimated that height is around 80% genetically determined—it runs in families—with about 20% under the influence of the environment. How then can we account for the fact that succeeding generations of people in Western countries have grown progressively taller?

My grandfather was 5’2” inches and bowlegged due to rickets he acquired growing up during hard times in Poland. My father was 5’8”, average height for a World War II GI. At 5’10 I’m the tallest in my lineage. 

The Netherlands now boasts the tallest people in world, men averaging an even six feet. But in the mid-1800s, Dutch men were among the shortest in Europe, with an average height of about 5’5”, shorter than their American counterparts, who even then enjoyed better nutrition.

Average height for men and women topped out in the mid to late-20th Century, but in the prosperous West it has stalled. Most believe that, with the elimination of malnutrition, we’ve removed a barrier to full expression of our genetic potential for growth. By analogy, when a car’s gas tank is full, adding more fuel won’t boost its range.

What determines height?

Other factors may be at play. I’ve seen short, underweight kids with delayed puberty who turned out to have undetected pediatric Crohn’s Disease or celiac. Or, they may have defects in growth hormone production. Pediatricians are alert to these possibilities.

Paradoxically, modern over-nutrition may play a role in limiting kids’ growth potential. We’re experiencing an alarming trend towards precocious puberty, especially in girls. When sex hormones kick in prematurely, they tend to hasten the closure of growth plates in kids’ limbs, halting elongation. Caloric excess promotes obesity, which is associated with accelerated sexual maturation and shorter stature.

Stress may play a role, too. I’ve known adults who fell way short of attaining their parents’ heights. Often, they describe a childhood beset with extraordinary stress—from abuse or bullying, or from external circumstances like forced immigration, homelessness, persecution, or war. Chronic stress raises cortisol, which, like steroid medication in kids with eczema or asthma, can impair growth.

A secret formula for height?

What’s in these supplements that purport to enhance kids’ growth? They deliver plausible combinations of nutrients which, if insufficient, could limit stature. These include vitamin D, calcium, zinc, iron and some B vitamins. But can a surfeit of these vitamins and minerals spur growth beyond that which a reasonably balanced diet might provide? 

The answer is clearly a resounding no. There are no studies documenting growth augmentation in well-fed kids not subject to caloric deprivation in advanced countries. 

Even in impoverished Tanzanian children born to HIV-infected mothers, multivitamins have been shown to produce no growth dividends. 

What kids do need are adequate calories and protein. The demands of growth dictate protein requirements above those required for mere maintenance by mature adults. And when calories are inadequate, the body “borrows” calories from muscles and organs, and skeletal growth may stall. 

Sexual maturation may also be interrupted. This sometimes happens in girls who suffer from eating disorders or work out obsessively while counting calories, triggering the so-called Female Athlete Triad: Their periods stop or are delayed in onset and their bones fail to mineralize. 

A fix in a can? 

Hence the rationale for PediaSure®️ Grow and Gain. It offers a paltry suite of vitamins and minerals—playing it safe well below the RDA. But its “superpower” is that it delivers a whopping 340 calories per serving—mostly from maltodextrin, sugar, and poor-quality refined seed oils. It only provides three grams of protein, far short of the gram per pound that a growing kid needs. Plus, it’s laced with undesirable additives like carrageenan and artificial colors and flavorings. 

Abbott Nutrition—makers of PediaSure®️ funded a study which showed its oral supplement “effective in promoting better growth outcomes for children with undernutrition.” The use-case for “Grow and Gain” might be to plump up a child with a serious eating disorder, or recovering from abdominal surgery or cancer treatment, but not for promoting growth in an otherwise healthy kid with access to plentiful food in a prosperous Western country.

Unfortunately, imposing a vegan diet on growing kids may be particularly problematic. A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition revealed that children raised vegan were on average 3 centimeters (1.18 inches) shorter than their omnivorous counterparts. They also had 10% lower bone density. 

That’s because their protein sources are more limited, and the amino acid profiles of vegetable proteins may be less complete than those derived from animal products. Unsupplemented kids subjected to a strict vegan regimen may also get inadequate calcium, zinc, vitamin D, and overall calories.

Drastic measures 

Pricey injections of growth hormone are covered by insurance for children with documented GH deficiency, at the recommendation of a pediatric endocrinologist. But they must be undertaken early, before puberty hastens the closure of those growth plates in limbs. By most accounts, GH shots may augment height by a mere one to three inches.

There’s a more draconian solution: limb-lengthening surgery. Orthopedic surgeons break and stretch the leg bones, which, after a long period of casting and immobilization, reknit. It’s considered elective surgery and may cost north of $100,000, is painful and debilitating, sidelines kids for a long time in recovery, and sometimes requires extensive rehabilitation to re-acquire a normal gait. Not surprisingly, there are few takers. 

When shorter is better

While short people suffer discrimination for jobs, political office, or on the dating circuit, they do enjoy a distinct advantage: They may live longer. 

Dwarf mice are a case in point: These teeny creatures, born with a congenital deficiency of growth hormone, live 30% longer than their normal peers. 

It holds true for humans: On average, shorter people live an average of two to five years longer than tall people. A study among basketball players found the tallest players (top 5%) died younger than the shortest players (bottom 5%). 

A natural way to help your kids grow

Wanna save money? Here’s an economical way to assure your child reaches their maximal growth potential: Encourage adequate sleep. 

Because most growth hormone is secreted at night, children who are sleep-deprived may incompletely leverage its height-promoting effects. 

In a recent Japanese study, “Tall stature was observed among 28% of children with at least 11.5 hours of nighttime sleep, compared with 23.8% of children with at most 9 hours . . . the current study sheds light on the previously underestimated influence of sleep on linear growth and may be useful in informing health-related policies to promote optimal growth and well-being in children.”

With the ubiquity of social media, and increasing recreational, social and academic demands on kids, coupled with early school start times, the average sleep durations of kids are declining precipitously. A recent study found that 96% of kids aged six and seven got the recommended 9–11 hours of sleep per night, but only about half of kids aged 10 and 11 met the requirements. And a survey of 20 advanced countries revealed that, from 1905 to 2008, kids lost on average 75 minutes of sleep time per night. 

BOTTOM LINE: Ignore the allure of pricey supplements and rely instead on simple healthy lifestyle measures to fully harness that 20% remaining outside the constraints of heredity’s tight limits on height potential. And take consolation from the accomplishments of Napoleon (5’6”), President James Madison (5’4”), Jean Harlow (5’1”), Martin Luther King (5’7”), Tom Cruise (5’7”), Prince (5’2”), and José Altuve (5’6”).