"In the past 30 years, The height of 19-year-old boys in China has grown the fastest in the world, with an average height increase of 8 centimeters to 175.7 centimeters; the height ranking has risen from 150th in the world in 1985 to 65th in 2019. At the same time, The height of 19-year-old girls in China has increased third in the world, with an average height increase of 6 centimeters to 163.5 centimeters, and the average height of the global ranking has risen from 129th to 54th. This is the latest finding of a study recently published in the authoritative medical journal The Lancet by Imperial College London. The study also shows that the countries that have seen the largest increases in children's average height over the past 35 years have been China and South Korea. In 2019, China surpassed South Korea (175.5cm for men/163.2cm for women) in terms of average height for both men and women, making it the tallest country in East Asia.
Within the age of 3 years and adolescence, parents should grasp the two key periods of their children's growth
Professor Ma Jun of the Institute of Child and Adolescent Health of the School of Public Health of Peking University once surveyed the height of Chinese students aged 7 to 18 years from 1985 to 2005 and found that in the 10 years from 1985 to 1995, the average height of the 50th percentile of 7-18-year-old urban men, township men, urban women and rural women increased by 3.1, 3.5, 2.2 and 2 .8cm, respectively, and in the 10 years from 1995 to 2005, they were 2.0, 2.3, 1.3 and 1.7 cm, respectively. The growth level of children and adolescents on the mainland shows a rapid and comprehensive growth trend. Ma Jun believes that the trend of height growth of children and adolescents on the mainland is related to the improvement of social and economic conditions after the mainland's reform and opening up, the improvement of the nutritional status of children and adolescents, the effective prevention and control of common diseases affecting the health of children and adolescents, and the long-term acceleration of the growth and development of children and adolescents.
Chi Jinghan, a neonatologist at the Seventh Medical Center of the PLA General Hospital, said that there are many factors affecting height, such as genetics, nutrition, and mental factors. According to studies, 75% of the body's final height depends on heredity. That is to say, in general, parents are tall, children are tall; parents are short, children are also short. However, the height of parents is not the only factor affecting the height of children, and the influence of external factors, that is, environmental conditions, on height cannot be ignored.
Chi Jinghan reminded that there are two most important periods for children's growth and development: one is within three years of age, especially the first 3 months of one year, and its growth rate is the sum of the last 9 months. The other is puberty, during which some children can grow 10 to 14 centimeters a year. Parents should pay special attention to grasping these two key periods, children's nutrition should keep up, and sleep should be sufficient.
Good sleep and physical exercise are very critical to the growth of children's height
In addition to genetics, what are the external factors that affect height? Chi Jinghan said that for children, sleep and nutrition are more critical. In addition, height is also associated with external factors such as sexual maturity, physical exercise, and mental relaxation.
Good sleep helps grow a child. "Puberty is the period when growth hormone and male hormone secretion is at its most vigorous. Therefore, teenagers should ensure adequate sleep, and sleep at least 8 hours a night. Chi Jinghan said that because the endocrine hormones that control height mainly include auxin, luteinizing hormones and sex hormones secreted by the pituitary gland, of which growth hormone has the most significant effect. Studies have found that when children sleep deeply for 1 hour, the secretion of growth hormone exceeds 5 to 7 times that of the daytime, and the secretion of sex hormones and luteinizing hormones is also very strong during deep sleep. Therefore, height is particularly closely related to sleep.
The later the sexual maturity, the higher the child grows. Sooner or later, a child's mature age can also affect height. In general, children who grow rapidly earlier will reach the termination point more quickly, and those who occur later will also reach their end point later. When the precocious child is no longer tall, the sexually late puberting child is still growing tall, so the sexually late puberting child will eventually be taller. The fastest growth in height for girls is pre-adolescence, with height increases of up to 7 to 8 centimeters in the year before menarche; the peak of height growth for boys is the first year of puberty, and the height increase can reach 10 to 12 centimeters at the age of 13 to 14.
Exercise is important for growing tall. Physical exercise can promote the secretion of growth hormone; second, it strengthens the blood supply of bone cells, which is conducive to promoting and improving the proliferation capacity of epiphyseal cartilage. According to studies, growth hormone secretion increases significantly after exercise. At the same time, exercise can also exercise muscles and bones, making the body more robust.
Chi Jinghan believes that in the development period of children and adolescents, we must have sufficient physical exercise to maintain a good mood and a healthy lifestyle. Children who have suffered severe trauma mentally will have slowed growth and even stagnation. Because sadness and depression will not only make children susceptible to various diseases, but also affect their growth and development, and even appear "before aging".
Ensure that your child's diet is balanced and nutritious, and do not blindly eat health care products
It is generally believed that the heritability of height is as high as 70% to 80%, but a 2004 Chinese study estimated that the heritability of high birth is actually only 65%, and there are 35% of acquired environmental factors, so that children's height may continue to grow.
Liu Chang'e, director of the Nutrition Department of the Seventh Medical Center of the PLA General Hospital, said that in addition to genetics, protein, vitamins, minerals, etc. are all important nutrients that are indispensable for children's height development, and have an important role in promoting and guaranteeing height growth.
Protein is especially important for children's growth and development. In a sense, height is "stacked" of nutrients (especially proteins). As we all know, protein is an important part of all cells and tissues in the human body, and it is also an essential nutrient for the composition of bones. If the intake of food can provide sufficient amounts of 8 kinds of essential amino acids, it can accelerate protein synthesis and contribute to the growth and development of tissues and organs throughout the body, especially the growth and development of bones and hip cartilage. Trials of preschoolers showed that the experimental group with an increase of 0.5 grams of lysine per meal of bread significantly outweighed other children in height and weight. Protein-rich foods include dairy, lean meat, fish, poultry, eggs, nuts and legumes.
Growing up can't ignore vitamins. For calcium to be deposited in bones and teeth, vitamin D must be involved. Vitamin D regulates calcium and phosphorus metabolism and promotes bone growth; vitamin A is involved in important processes such as embryonic development, visual function, respiratory diseases, children's growth, immune regulation, etc.; iron, selenium, vitamin E, etc. can be directly involved in the biological oxidation process, and can promote the normal development of the immune system. Only a balanced, moderate, and varied diet can take in comprehensive, balanced, and rich nutrients.
How to achieve a balanced diet? Liu Chang'e suggested: 1.0 to 6 months old infants adhere to exclusive breastfeeding, on-demand feeding; 7 to 24 months old infants, milk quantity, complementary food should be guaranteed, food gradually diversified.
2. Preschool children (before 2 to 6 years old), diet should focus on cultivating children to eat regularly, encourage daily milk drinking, choose healthy and nutritious snacks, and avoid sugary drinks and high-fat fried foods.
3. School-age children and adolescents, three meals should be reasonable, regular meals, cultivate healthy eating behaviors; food types, sources, colors are rich and diverse, no less than 12 kinds of food per day, do not be picky, partial food, meat and vegetarian collocation; supplement high-quality protein, including milk, fish, meat, eggs, beans and nuts, etc.; supplement fresh vegetables and fruits, more than 5 kinds of fresh vegetables and fruits per day, rich in color, dark vegetables account for more than half, often eat fungal algae; ensure staple food and energy intake, staple food coarse and fine grain reasonable collocation.
Overnutrition can also cause children to be underdeveloped in height. Liu Chang'e especially pointed out that many parents mistakenly think that their children can grow taller by eating more and eating well, constantly let their children overeat, and even buy a lot of nutritional health products for their children. She reminded that blindly supplementing children with nutritional supplements not only cannot help children to increase their height, but will lead to obesity in children because of overnutrition, triggering precocious puberty, but leading to children's eventual short stature. (Trainee reporter Chen Shu)
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How to judge whether the child's "height" is up to standard?
"My baby doesn't seem to have grown up in the past few months, why should I do it?" Whether the height of their children is normal, how should parents judge?
Is the child's current height normal? Liu Yi, deputy chief physician of the Department of Pediatrics of the Oriental Hospital of Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, pointed out that the child's height growth is not uniform, the younger the age, the faster the growth, the fastest growth of children within 1 year of age, the average length of newborns at birth is 50cm, and the fastest growth in length in the first year after birth, about 25cm, of which the first 3 months increased by about 12cm. The growth rate slows down in the second year, about 10 cm, that is, the length of the child is about 85 cm at the age of 2. After the age of 2 years to adolescence, the height (length) growth is stable, and the height is increased by 6-7 cm per year, and the minimum should not be less than 5 cm. Entering puberty, there is a second peak in height growth, which is about twice the growth rate of school age and lasts for 2 to 3 years. Girls start slightly 2 years earlier than boys.
Liu Yi suggested that parents should regularly do physical examinations for their children, and make records, recording their children's height and weight every 3 to 6 months to see how much their children's height and weight have increased each year.
Is there a problem with the child not being tall? Some parents feel that their children are shorter than children of the same age, and they are very anxious is it "short stature"? Short stature is compared to the height of individuals of the same race, gender, and age if they are below two standard deviations of the average height of the normal population, or below the third percentile. Liu Yi reminded that the following situations may indicate slow growth of children: (1) the child's height growth is less than 7 cm per year before the age of 2; (2) the height growth from 5 years old to adolescence is less than 5 cm per year; (3) the height growth during adolescence is less than 6 cm per year. If the child is found to have the above conditions, it is recommended to take the child to the hospital for treatment, do a standardized physical examination, nutritional assessment, genetic assessment, thyroid function assessment and bone age assessment, etc., to further clarify the diagnosis, early intervention, do not miss the child's optimal growth period.
Does short stature have to fight growth hormone? There are many causes of short stature, lack or inecretion of growth hormone is only one reason, as well as familial short stature, insensitivity to growth hormone, bone development disorders, and some endocrine diseases. Treatment should be given according to the cause. Chinese medicine believes that the main bone of the kidney is the innate foundation; the main muscles and limbs of the spleen are the basis of the day after tomorrow, and the healthy spleen and kidney of Traditional Chinese medicine can promote the growth of children's bones and muscles. The children seen clinically are low in stature, most of them are borderline short stature, and for these children, traditional Chinese medicine intervention can be carried out early.
In addition, it is recommended that parents start from daily maintenance: 1. Ensure that children sleep enough and strengthen bouncing sports to promote their growth. 2. Pay attention to nutritional balance and improve the nutritional status of children. 3. It is not advisable to give children supplements to avoid stimulating children's early development. (Plaintext)
Source: China Women's Daily