The harm outweighs the benefits when giving children medicine to increase height quickly.
Advertising "drinking for two months increases height by 2-5 cm", many types of drugs and functional foods are sold widely on the market, doctors advise against abuse.
It is not difficult to choose a product to help increase height nowadays. At functional food stores or online sales sites, height increasing products are advertised as “rapid height increase”, “100% natural height increasing medicine”, “increase height in one month”.
Products are from many different countries such as Japan, Korea, Thailand, USA, Australia..., advertisedSuitable for people 3-27 years old.
“In the first two months, the drinker will grow 2-5 cm. If you drink 4-7 boxes, you can increase your height by 10 cm depending on the drinker's age,” said a consultant at a store.The ingredients listed on the labels of these products are mainly nano calcium, protein, vitamin A, Persian walnuts, deer antlers, sea cucumbers... Prices vary widely, from 490,000 to 2.7 million VND per product.
In addition to medicine and functional foods, there are also syrups, bone-strengthening granules, and lozenges that are advertised to help increase height for children under 10 years old.
Doctor Huynh Thi Vu Quynh, a teacher in the Pediatrics Department at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ho Chi Minh City, said that when using any product, it is necessary to consider the ingredients, dosage, indications for whom it is used, and whether there are any contraindications.
According to Dr. Quynh, most height-increasing products contain calcium, but it is necessary to know exactly what type of calcium compound and the dosage. "If abused, excess calcium can cause kidney stones, kidney failure, soft tissue calcification... for the user," said Dr. Quynh.
Pharmacist Le Kim Phung, former lecturer at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City, said that there is no medical or clinical evidence that the body can grow taller after puberty. Liquids, injections or pills that are said to increase height do not cause bone growth when your growth has stopped.
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Growth hormone injections can cause children to enter puberty too early and affect their height. Photo:MNT |
According to pharmacist Phung, there are some types of drugs that support height growth such as injections prescribed for growth failure in children, and drugs that help transport growth hormones that have the effect of lengthening bones and bone plates to grow stronger during adolescence. "However, when you reach 23 years old, these drugs will no longer be effective," Ms. Phung emphasized.
Ms. Phung also said that there are many cases where hormone injections have caused growth and reproductive disorders and caused children to enter puberty too early.
Doctors advise parents to consider carefully and seek advice from a medical professional when considering giving their children growth hormone injections. Growth hormone treatment is only indicated in cases where the body does not produce enough of this hormone.
According to Dr. Quynh, children who enter puberty too early will have their bones ossify and stop growing in height early. “One of the risk factors for early puberty is obesity. Parents need to take measures to prevent overweight and obesity in their children to prevent early puberty from affecting their height,” Ms. Quynh advised.
