Which golden period determines a child’s height?

The information was stated by Dr. Truong Hong Son, Director of the Vietnam Institute of Applied Medicine, at the scientific conference The role of vitamins D3 and K2 in supporting improvement of bone density and height growth in children, November 6, in Hanoi. This is an opportunity for experts and doctors to give the latest recommendations related to essential vitamins during height growth.

Dr. Son said that the first factor that determines a child’s height is genetics, accounting for about 23%, but nutrition contributes up to 32% in the child’s development process. To narrow the height gap between Vietnamese people and other countries, in addition to genetic factors, parents need to pay attention to nutrition, exercise, and sleep for children.

Human stature has the strongest influence in the first 1,000 days of life (9 months of pregnancy and the first two years of life), the pre-school period and puberty, according to Dr. Son. Specifically, during pregnancy, children grow from 0 to 50 cm in just 9 months, this is the period of fastest height growth. In the first year after birth, a child’s height increases by an average of 25 cm. In the second year, children continue to grow about 12.5 cm.

At the end of the first 1,000 days of life, children can achieve 50% of their adult height. If during this period, children do not receive enough essential micronutrients, their height will be difficult to fully compensate in the following years. After this period, the rate of increase in height decreases and there is only one sharp increase during puberty before the growth rate slows and ends around age 19.

“Thus, the result of height acceleration is a process of early, long-term and sustainable intervention, intervention for malnourished and stunted children to restore height as soon as possible and continuously.” , Dr. Son said.

Survey results conducted by the General Statistics Office and the National Institute of Nutrition in 2020 recorded the height of men reaching 168.1 cm and women 156.2 cm. Compared to 10 years ago, young men increased by 3.7 cm, while women increased by 2.6 cm. Compared to Southeast Asian countries, the height of Vietnamese people ranks behind Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Ten years ago, Vietnamese people ranked near the lowest in the region, only slightly higher than Indonesians and Filipinos.

Many people think that Vietnam is a tropical country with lots of sunshine, children are not deficient in vitamin D, so they do not need supplementation. However, a 2022 study in Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam, showed that more than 50% of newborns lack vitamin D, according to Mr. Son. Therefore, in addition to sunbathing properly, you need to supplement vitamin D from your daily diet and supplements. Vitamin D helps absorb calcium effectively, a deficiency of this substance will lead to rickets in children.

In addition to vitamin D, vitamin K2 is also important in bone development and regulating calcium metabolism in the body. The combination of two types of vitamins K2 and D3 can support calcium absorption into bones, help increase bone density, reduce the risk of osteoporosis and fractures, and reduce calcium deposition in blood vessels and tissues. soft, to improve height growth in children.

Vitamin D is found in foods such as fish oil, liver, egg yolks, butter and milk… Vitamin K2 is found in fermented foods such as cheese and especially natto (fermented soybeans). of Japan). In addition, chicken and eel also contain vitamin K2.

At the conference, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Xuyen, President of the Vietnam Medical Association, also said that in Vietnam, about 18% of children under 5 years old are malnourished and stunted, affecting their stature when they reach adulthood. Meanwhile, vitamin D deficiency in children is still common and is negatively affecting children’s height development. Therefore, parents need to pay attention to nutrition and vitamin supplements to help children grow well.