Many parents want to know that what decides the height of their children. Some people think that if the parents are tall, the children can be also tall. In fact, the hereditary is only one aspect to affect the height of children. Many diseases like the lack of the growth hormones and the intrauterine growth retardation can greatly affect the height. In addition, the snacks and health care products can also be harmful to the children’s height. Many compositions of these foods can force the children to grow prematurely, which is called “sexual precocity” in the field of medicine. 

In order to maintain the normal growth and brain development, it is essential to supplement adequate and balanced nutrients for children, especially the children younger than 6 years old. The nutrients like protein, zinc, calcium, iron and iodine should be absorbed from the daily diet to maintain the normal development of the bones. Except the diet, adequate sleep also plays an important role in affecting the height of children. When the children fall asleep for one hour, the secretion amount of the growth hormones in the evening is five to seven times higher than that in the day. Therefore, adequate sleep is beneficial to the increase of the height and the rapid growth of the puberty. It is suitable for children to maintain 8-hour sleep each day. In addition, the exercises can maintain the adequate blood supply for the bone tissues and the vigorous metabolism of the bone cells, which can accelerate the growth of new bones.

Nowadays, the ways of increasing the height are rather diverse, including internal medicines like health care product, external equipments like heightening shoes and the surgery. In fact, the amino acids and herbal medicines contained in health care products can not achieve the effect of increasing the height. The sexual hormones contained in some health care products can accelerate the maturity of the bones, which is harmful to the health of children in the future. Some parents want to help children become tall by the surgery. The risk of the surgery is rather high, and the incidents in the surgery can even cause serious results.

If the children always grow short, parents can ask the doctors for help. In everyday life, the essential and balanced nutrients like calcium and iron should be supplemented for children. The habits of taking the exercises and maintaining adequate sleep should be formed.