Being vegetarian and being short..

[bloodyunicorns]

Ds 15 is veggie. Has been for 4 years. He's on the short side - 5 foot 4. But he's muscly, fit, and knows about nutrition and makes sure he gets enough protein.

Do you think he'd grow more/faster if he ate meat?? Is he stunting himself?!

There have been studies showing that vegetarian children are shorter and have less muscle mass. Does he supplement with vitamins? Does he eat a whole foods diet or a lot vegetarian junk food? Eating meat is not just about protein, it’s also about micronutrients and vitamins like choline, EFAs, CLA, iron, zinc, etc…

How tall are his parents?

Personally, we eat a whole foods diet high in plants, but with plenty of quality fish and meat. I wouldn’t encourage my children to go vegetarian until well past their growing/development stage. And I certainly wouldn’t feed them processed soy, wheat gluten, etc…fake meat products.

His grandparents are all pretty short - 5 foot 6 max. I'm 5 foot 3, dh is 5 foot 11.

He eats a good diet - cheese, pulses, eggs, cereal enriched with protein. Takes a multivitamin every day.

Nothing wrong with his muscle mass - he lifts weights, has massive biceps, very defined muscles.

We don't eat any fake meat, no processed soy or quorn type products. Cook mainly from scratch.

My DD is vegetarian from birth and was always the skinniest and the smallest in the class, despite having a large appetite and a really varied diet. We used to get tutted at because she was veggie (not too common where we live), she’s now 17 and has overtaken me in height (I’m 5’5) and is still growing. Her older half brother was the same and he eats meat, he was tiny until about 16 when he suddenly shot up. The late growth spurt comes from my omnivorous DP’s side so it really was nothing to do with diet.

Unless you were seriously undernourished in childhood so your growth was stunted, diet will only influence your adult height by a couple of cm. The exception is children that go through early puberty, and this stop growing sooner, ironically often due to overnourishment or high meat consumption.

Many vegetarian children do have better diets than their peers, purely by dint of the fact that many vegetarian parents understand about nutrition and will probably miss out on fewer micronutrients than beige food omnivores.

That's reassuring, thanks @Melassa!

Totally anecdotal but my brother and I were raised Veggie in the 90s and are now 6"0 and 5"8. My best female friend growing up was also vegetarian and grew to 6"0, her brother about 6"3. We used to joke that our parents fed us plant food for us to grow so tall!

Yes, they will be. There are 21 essential amino acids for children and you can’t get 6 of them from a veggie diet.

several of my friends kids have eventually persuaded their children to eat meat/fish and they’ve grown. Two haven’t - and their kids are tiny.

this push to total vegetarianism/veganism is not good - when as partially following either diet is better for the planet and health in adults. Kids need a mix of foods.

I was always a shortarse when I was little - and I ate anything and everything (apart from liver). Turned veggie when I was about 14 and ended up being tallish.

I suspect it’s genetics (unless the kid is malnourished).

DD is 6ft, I've no idea how tall she would be if she had not been raised as a vegetarian.

I am 40 and haven’t ever eaten meat or fish - I’m 5 foot 3 and a half, which is not weirdly small but still on the shorter side for a modern woman……but I am also exactly the same height as my meat eating grandmother and great grandmother (pre elderly shrinkage) who had a standard diet for their time and didn’t experience famine etc. I am fractionally taller than my mother, who stopped eating meat in her 20s.

My two were vegetarian as babies and small children, both now eat some meat. Both are at the very top of the height centiles for their ages. So they weren't stunted by being vegetarian as babies/toddlers.

Do you mean a vegan diet is deficient in those 6 amino acids? Which 6 are they?

Utter bollocks

I've been veggie since the age of 12 and I'm five foot four. My brother hasn't and is six foot two. My dad is five ten and so was my mum so I think my veggie diet has had something to do with my height.

My sisters are 5”4, 5”2 and 5 - all mange-touts - I’m the tallest (even taller than my brother) and the bike veggie in the family.

Which amino acids?

I asked this question seriously and I'd like proven scientific answers...

Since you were 12?! What difference do you think that could have made? Malnutrition stunts growth. Being vegetarian isn't malnourished. You're an average height for a woman!! Don't be so daft

My DC have always been vegetarian, as have I. One is the tallest in his class and one is the shortest.

I don’t know how my DC’s diets compare to their friends, but I know when I was a child my diet was much more nutritious than my friends’ (who mostly ate ‘70s and 80s stodge).

My vegan from birth children are always the healthiest and tallest in their groups. Helps their dad is over 6 foot but one was the 97th percentile for height.

Which amino acids can’t be found in a vegetarian diet? (Not vegan).

Large parts of the world eat mainly vegetarian diets. Nonetheless, I was a vegetarian from 11. I am shorter than average. Who cares ? Do you? What's wrong with being short?

My shortness is genetics BTW.

@Zagan - is your question to me? If so, then I'd like ds to maximise his potential. If eating a meat diet will help him grow taller and not be noticeably short, I'd like him to consider this.

I’m not sure what’s wrong with being on the short side, but my meat-eating daughter is 5”3, my vegetarian since age 3 son is 6”1.

And what does he want?

Meat won't make him grow taller. It really won't.