Inside: Wondering if height-boosting drinks and vitamins for kids really work? Find out the bottom line and whether they’re worth it.
Seeing commercials and ads for special drink mixes and vitamins claiming to help kids grow?
I remember noticing them several years ago. As a petite mom with two boys who were on the smaller side, I had a mix of emotions. The marketing seemed to imply that there was something wrong with being small, something that needed to be fixed. That obviously didn’t sit well with me.
But as a registered dietitian, I couldn’t help but be curious. So I looked into the fine print and the science behind these products. If you’re wondering about them too, here are five things to keep in mind.
1. Being small isn’t the same as having a growth issue.
Some kids do have medical issues that impact growth, like hormone deficiencies or conditions that make it harder to absorb nutrients from food, like inflammatory bowel disease.
But other kids are just naturally small. According to the American Academy of Pediatricians (AAP), “Most children who have short stature have no medical condition and are healthy.”
According to the AAP, reasons a child might be short include:
- Having one or both parents who are short
- Later onset of puberty
- Simply being short with no identifiable cause
Needless to say, a pricey shake mix or vitamins won’t change these factors.
