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Will protein powder enhance children's height?

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The following is an actual conversation between an iCliniq user and a doctor that has been reviewed and published as a Premium Q&A.

Answered by

Dr. Payas Joshi

Medically reviewed by

iCliniq medical review team

Published At June 20, 2016
Reviewed AtMay 22, 2023

Patient's Query

Hi doctor,

I have a son and a daughter. My height is 5 feet 7 inches and wife is 5 feet 1 inch. I am extremely worried about my children height as we are short. My daughter is now 3 years 10 months old and of 31.9 pounds in weight and 38 inches tall. She had seizure thrice and taking some sodium liquid medicine for the past three years. My son is 1 year old and weighs 22.4 pounds and is 28 inches tall. I want to know what would be the appropriate height of my children as per current status. Is there anything I can do to increase their height? I want my daughter to be 5 feet 6 inches tall and son to be 6 feet tall. Will giving protein powder make any difference? Kindly do the needful.

Answered by Dr. Payas Joshi

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com. I understand your concern. I will try to sort it out for you.

As you told me father's height 5 feet 7 inches that is 170 cm and mother's height is 5 feet1 inch that is 155 cm. According to both of your heights, which is an average height of most of the people, the target range for your kids height would be

Son - 163 to 175 cm (5.3 to 5.8 feet)

Daughter - 149 to 162 cm (4.9 to 5.3 feet).

See, this is the genetic potential of your children. It is not that they cannot always be taller than this. There are several other factors which work. That is why we say that the height has multifactorial inheritance like environment, nutrition.

Now, let us see how they are currently growing. Your son's weight is perfectly fine for his age and height is on the lower side of normal (71 to 75 is average).

Your daughter's height is average for her age and weight is fine.

That means they are currently growing according to their potential, which is not pathological. So, I do not say you should worry much for this.

What you should do is take care of their nutrition. Give them adequate calories and proteins, which means a balanced diet.

Also, follow their height and weight over a period of two to three months. There is no need of protein powder if diet is good.

I would also like to ask about seizures. When was the last time she had seizures? Why Sodium valproate was started?

Are they taking any supplements, like calcium or anything else?

Treatment plan

We can add some calcium supplements.

Patient's Query

Thank you doctor,

She had her last seizure approximately three years ago and the doctor has said to have a review this year again. I would like to know when you say that her height is average, what will be her final height? Also, is there a chance of seizure again? Please evaluate the same for my son.

Answered by Dr. Payas Joshi

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

I checked it again for you. According to WHO - World Health Organization charts for child growth for less than 5 years of children, both are growing normally as per their age.

The final height potential, according to parent's height I have already told you. Now, what height they will actually attain finally cannot be predicted right now. The maximum height gain will be during the pubertal years at age of around 9 to 15 years.

I will again suggest you not to worry for height right now. Just make sure they get the right nutrition. They will definitely grow to their fullest. Just keep a track of their growth. And for seizures, I doubt if she needs this or not. Because, usually such medicines are stopped after two years of seizure free interval and you told me that last seizure was three years back.

What was the cause of seizures that time? Were any images or any other investigations done?

If seizures are not there since last three years, then should think of withdrawing the drug and see the response. The seizure will recur or not will depend upon the cause of seizures.

Thank you

Same symptoms don't mean you have the same problem. Consult a doctor now!

Dr. Payas Joshi
Dr. Payas Joshi

Pediatrics

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