Dr Girl/Dr Dejour Q&A
Dear Doctor Dejour,
I have this major concern. You see as a 17 year old, I worry about my height stature. Although I am not very short (1.57m) I am very self-conscious about it. Can you please tell me at what age do girls stop growing? I have been this height since I was 12 years old and can you tell me what kind of food should I eat to help to increase my height?
Signed Concerned.
Dear Miss Concerned,
I wonder how old you were when you started getting periods? The 'growth spurt' is part of puberty and usually forms part of a set pattern. Usually by the time you have your first period your maximal rate of growth has already happened. After this you continue growing at a slower rate and usually there would be little increase from two years after your periods started. If you have had a 'normal' puberty, there is nothing you can do to alter your height. If you have not had a period, or it was within the last 12 months, you should see a doctor. It sounds to me though like you did your growing a while ago. The hormone of puberty (estrogen) fuses the growth plates in your bones so that they cannot grow longer.
People joke about the growth hormone in some farmed animals but eating chicken is not a serious option for increasing height. Your height is about the only thing you cannot change in these days of plastic surgery and hairdressers with chemicals.
Really the only effect your diet can have is to build you strong bones (calcium - in milk, yoghurt, cheese) so that when you are older, your spine does not compress downwards, shrinking you from your 157cm.
Dr Dejour
I have this major concern. You see as a 17 year old, I worry about my height stature. Although I am not very short (1.57m) I am very self-conscious about it. Can you please tell me at what age do girls stop growing? I have been this height since I was 12 years old and can you tell me what kind of food should I eat to help to increase my height?
Signed Concerned.
Dear Miss Concerned,
I wonder how old you were when you started getting periods? The 'growth spurt' is part of puberty and usually forms part of a set pattern. Usually by the time you have your first period your maximal rate of growth has already happened. After this you continue growing at a slower rate and usually there would be little increase from two years after your periods started. If you have had a 'normal' puberty, there is nothing you can do to alter your height. If you have not had a period, or it was within the last 12 months, you should see a doctor. It sounds to me though like you did your growing a while ago. The hormone of puberty (estrogen) fuses the growth plates in your bones so that they cannot grow longer.
People joke about the growth hormone in some farmed animals but eating chicken is not a serious option for increasing height. Your height is about the only thing you cannot change in these days of plastic surgery and hairdressers with chemicals.
Really the only effect your diet can have is to build you strong bones (calcium - in milk, yoghurt, cheese) so that when you are older, your spine does not compress downwards, shrinking you from your 157cm.
Dr Dejour
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