How much is height to do with diet?

[Lunasun]

Obviously it's mainly hereditary how tall someone grows in height. But how much do you think diet has to do with it? How bad does a child's diet have to be to effect their end height. I remember by brother being really fussy as a child/teen but he ended up growing really tall. Yet, I always heard that if your diet is really restricted as a child then this can stunt their growth?

I seem to recall that Magnus Pyke (the food scientist who waved his arms about a lot) said you could, to some degree, see some physical characteristics of different nationalities due the diet they had whilst growing up.

e.g. Italians tend to be rounder (I'm on dodgy ground here saying that) because they ate more carbohydrates (pasta) whilst Americans tend to be taller because they ate more protein (meat).

(We can't ask him now because he died in 1992 )

My friend's son had and has Crohn's disease, with lots of treatment including steroids, and she says he is small as a result. He is much shorter than his father (over 6ft) and a little shorter than his mother who is 5ft 7 inches.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570677X16300065
As others have mentioned already, genetics and childhood illness have an impact on adult stature but so does diet. Body fat has an impact on age at which puberty begins and growth stops so for example an overweight 11yr old may start to menstruate and if only 5ft tall at this stage then may not grow further whereas a taller, leaner, physically active 11yr old may not reach puberty until later and will continue to grow until reaches puberty. A child's diet would have to be very poor to actually stunt their growth but many will not reach their full height potential if they do not eat a varied diet with sufficient good quality animal based proteins e.g. dairy. I remember reading an article previously linking tall stature with dairy consumption and that the Dutch are the worlds tallest nation which also correlated with a diet high in dairy products (and meat I think) compared to smaller Asian populations who tend to eat either no dairy and/or vegetarian diets. Can't find the original article but Link above shows similar findings.

As a baby DD barely ate and put on weight. I was really worried and kept bringing it up to HVs and GPs and everyone said it's fine,she's fine. Weaning didn't go very well either.

Cue her 2y check where the HV kept banging on that she's too short like I had something to do with it or I could magically fix it. Despite her "worry" I didn't get any follow up or advice or anything.

I am not very tall at 5ft 4 but DH is 6ft 2 and DS is 6ft at only 13 and is still growing.
DD is just 5ft 3 but was one of the tallest of her peers until she stopped growing at around 11 and everyone else didnt
I did suffer from HG when pg with her though and lost 2 stone so I have wondered if it made a difference

If I remember correctly your genes will determine your max height and your environment, food etc will determine whether you reach it.

If a child's daily allowance of say 40g of protein. Does it matter what sources of protein it comes from? Is animal protein superior so plant protein or is it a problem only if someone doesn't get enough protein?

Vegan children tend to be shorter as they can’t obtain the spectrum of essential amino acids from plant based sources.

www.ucl.ac.uk/child-health/news/2021/jun/vegan-diets-children-may-bring-heart-benefits-pose-growth-risks

"third world countries" ??? Is your comment based on Oxfam ads showing starving children or have you actually visited these countries?

I've heard they can as long as they can from a wide variety of plant proteins to get the complete amount, so if they're a fussy vegan then that wouldn't be good.
The NHS website says that they grow as tall as children who aren't vegan as long as they cover all the nutrients needed and also supplement.

You can read the original report from the link I posted. Children need more essential amino acids than adults - who just lack calcium and B12 from vegan diets.

My siblings are identical twins, save that one is shorter than the other. The shorter one was vegetarian in her teens and presumably had less protein.

I'm short for my family. My grandmother carried my mother during rationing, and I had disordered eating during my teens. I've a long body and probably should have been a fair few inches taller.

In my case, I think it's dietary: ie. not enough protein for my genetics (my family going back centuries were nomadic herders, heavily meat and diary-based, and the ones that stuck to this diet are all taller than me). I also know now that even if I eat healthily, I'm still sub-optimal in vitamins and minerals, so need to supplement.