Drinking coffee stunts your growth

Question

We’ve all heard the old adage that coffee will stunt your child’s growth. But is it true? Turns out … no. But there’s still plenty you should know about the effects of caffeine on children and what can actually impact their growth. Pediatric endocrinologist Roy Kim, MD says that caffeine doesn't impact growth. No one is exactly sure where this belief originated.

Comments

Coffee stunting your growth is a myth, I have personally experienced it and watched it not affect mine and other families growth. Also, stated in the article above, studies have shown it is a myth.

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The claim that coffee stunts you growth is a myth and the article published by Cleveland Clinic is a reliable source that ensures this statement. First and foremost, the Cleveland Clinic is among the top four ranked American hospitals by the National Institutes of Health, proving credibility of the site. Additionally, the author of the article provides a variety of information that revolves around if coffee stunts growth, how coffee really affects children, and what can impact the growth of children. Each of these perspective relate to the main argument and are supported by reliable evidence. Something specific that author did to ensure the accountability in their work was by adding links to where information was gathered from. This immediately lets reader see if the evidence is collected from reliable sources and provides more information to support the claim. In coherence to this article, there are many other credible sources like CBS News, Harvard Health, and The New York Times that provide evidence from the same statement. Overall, the claim that coffee doesn't stunt growth is reliable and trustworthy.

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After reading the source you provided, I think it's notable to include Dr. Kim says “Caffeine does not meaningfully impact how tall a child gets”. The same article goes on later to say that “caffeine is an appetite suppressant.”  I would speculate that suppressing your appetite would impact your growth. But Dr Kim later says “but that doesn’t translate into a meaningful impact on child growth.” So I think it's fair to say that coffee doesn't stunt children's growth.

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I like how you conducted research from a prestigious and trusted source, that makes your evidence and argument much more reliable.

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From the sources provided, it is clear the claim that coffee stunts your growth is false. However, I think that the information gathered from research is a very necessary aspect in deciding the truth since this has been a basically age-old myth for so long.

Answer 1

This claim is false and a common myth, caffeine doesn't stunt childhood growth. As detailed in the article however, there are several negative effects of childhood caffeine intake such as insomnia, headache, and sleep problems. The website (Cleveland health clinic) itself is a credible site, but these two ideas are further backed up by organizations like the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry- https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/FFF-Guide/Caffeine_and_Children-131.aspx. So no, caffeine doesn't stunt children's growth but side affects like restlessness and nausea/lack of appetite could have long term affects on a child's development which includes their growth.

Comments

Thanks for pointing out that there are certain side effects of childhood caffeine intake that can negatively impact the health of children. While the claim is false, it's important to note that coffee is not entirely healthy for children to consume.

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I like that you found additional reliable sources to back up your fact check. I also appreciated that you talked about some of the actual possible negative effects of caffeine because it added some context to understanding where the idea originated from.

Answer 2

No, drinking coffee does not stunt your growth. This is just a myth. Caffeine has no effect on how tall you grow. What really matters for growth are factors like genetics, getting enough calories and nutrients, and having a healthy environment. This article is reliable and backs up everything they're claiming.

Comments

What's your source? Also cite it in-text and include a hyperlink. Thanks!

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This fact check does not provide significant information to successfully prove the claim false.  You do not disprove the original source that the author linked, but you also don't provide sources to support the evidence that you state in your fact check. It is clear that you used some sort of article for your information, so make sure to cite it in order to make your fact check reliable.

Answer 3

After carefully researching, it is shown that caffeine does not directly impact growth. Caffeine has many side effects both positive and negative. The National Institute of Health concludes their research on this topic with those side effects. The positive ones being long term intelligence and increased motor activity. The negative side effects are more of emotional sensitivity such as anxiety and depression. Now at the start of this answer, I mentioned how caffeine does not DIRECTLY impact growth. However one of the negative side effects is an inconsistent sleep schedule. Studies show that humans grow in their sleep. With that being said, caffeine does not directly impact growth but can indirectly. The sources used are reliable because they had various medical insight. The article given with the claim provides insight from Roy Kim, an endocrinologist. Endocrinologists are medical professionals who specialize in growth, diabetes, metabolic disorders, and much more. All of these can be tied to the consuming of caffeine.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7177467/#abstract1

Answer 4

The claim that coffee stunts growth has been around for ages and article from harvard health https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/can-coffee-really-stunt-your-growth#:~:text=Separating%20Truth%20from%20Fiction,associated%20with%20loss%20of%20height). Has proven that it isn't true. Scientists have studied this and found that coffee doesn't actually affect height or growth. The idea has come from the fact that coffee can reduce how much calcium our bodies take in but it's not enough to make a difference in height. The idea may have also been from the misconception that coffee causes osteoporosis but coffee does not cause osteoporosis.

Answer 5

We have all heard the saying, "Coffee stunts your growth," but is it true? While researching, I found there is no direct link between growth and coffee. While caffeine doesn't stunt growth, it can cause some other health complications in youth. I found a study done by the Mayo Clinic, which stated that "There isn’t any scientific medical evidence that coffee, in particular, or caffeine, in general, stunts growth." This proved that the claim coffee is stunts your growth is false. 

Comments

What study did you find? Please include source hyperlinks next time. Thanks!

Answer 6

The claim that coffee stunts your growth is false. Multiple sources I found, Harvard Medical School, Healthline, and WebMD, all corroborate that this claim is false and coffee/caffeine have no links to stunted growth. While caffeine can affect sleeplessness and that leads to problems with growth hormone production, caffeine itself does not lead to a shorter height or the lack of production of growth hormones. 

"There is no scientifically valid evidence to suggest that coffee can stunt a person's growth." (Harvard Medical School)

"The caffeine in coffee drinks has a stimulating effect on your body and mind. This means it increases your alertness, focus, and heart rate. When young people consume too much caffeine before bedtime, their sleep is affected. The effects of sleep deprivation have more to do with stunted growth than coffee itself." (WebMD)

"Coffee has long been associated with stunted growth in adolescents, but there is no evidence to support this." (Healthline)

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/can-coffee-really-stunt-your-growth#:~:text=Separating%20Truth%20from%20Fiction,associated%20with%20loss%20of%20height).

https://www.webmd.com/diet/does-coffee-stunt-your-growth

https://healthline.com/nutrition/does-coffee-stunt-growth

Answer 7

This claim is false. The Harvard Health Publishing says that for a while people thought that coffee would cause osteoporosis which could possible cause people to get shorter but as it turns out coffee does not cause osteoporosis either. They state that "Whether or not coffee turns out to have significant health benefits, this popular beverage doesn't stunt your growth. Your height is largely determined by the height of your parents and the quality of your diet and overall health while growing." 

The Cleveland Clinic states that "There isn’t any scientific medical evidence that coffee, in particular, or caffeine, in general, stunts growth." Which also disproves this claim that coffee stunts your growth. 

Good Rx says "The lack of scientific evidence that links coffee to growth stunting leads experts to believe that there is not a relationship between the two." Coffee has been around for a long time and people have thought that coffee stunts growth for a long time if there isn't any concrete proof or evidence that this is true then it's not true and most likely never will be.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/can-coffee-really-stunt-your-growth

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/does-coffee-stunt-growth

https://www.goodrx.com/health-topic/childrens-health/does-coffee-stunt-your-growth

Answer 8

Caffeine does not stunt your growth

 

2. What primary sources did you find (e.g., transcripts, videos of politician speeches, tweets from public figures, scientific studies)? For each source, write at least one or two sentences explaining what you learned. Include all links.

 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890856716314780
This review looked at caffeine effects in children and adolescents and found no evidence that caffeine directly limits physical growth

 https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/80/6/1596/4690513
Large longitudinal cohort study found no association between caffeine intake and height growth in children and adolescents.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07315724.2002.10719215
Investigated caffeine and calcium metabolism, concluding that adequate calcium intake cancels out any minor calcium loss caused by caffeine
 

3. What secondary sources did you find (e.g., newspapers, magazines)? Only use secondary sources if sufficient primary sources are not available. For each source, write at least one or two sentences explaining what you learned. Include all links.

https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/142/6/e20182968/37572
Caffeine guidance for the young. Focused on sleep.

 

4. What potential biases or interests might each of your sources have?

People and doctors tend to prefer stimulant free children
 

Social stigma

Observational studies might be confounded by lifestyle factors
 

No strong financial incentives

 

5. What evidence supports the claim you are fact-checking?

Caffeine can reduce appetite or disrupt sleep, which could indirectly affect growth if nutrition or rest are impaired
 

Very high caffeine intake could slightly increase calcium excretion if calcium intake is inadequate.
 

Animal studies using extremely high doses sometimes show growth effects, but these doses exceed typical human consumption.
 

Caffeine causes a higher nutrient and sugar requirement

6. What evidence undermines the claim you are fact-checking?

Longitudinal human studies show no reduction in height or growth from caffeine.

Adequate calorie, protein, calcium, and sugar intake mitigates any suppression

 

Answer 9

The article from the Cleveland Clinic states that the myth that drinking coffee can have an effect on the growth of children is false. The site states that the myth might have come from the fact that caffeine in coffee can work as an appetite suppressant. And since children need sufficient nutrition to grow, some people may have thought that reduced appetite could interfere with the growth of children.

A similar conclusion appears in the article by McGill University. Writing,  “But while the idea that coffee stunts your growth has long been held as an obvious truth, there is very minimal evidence to back that up.” The article also discusses historical backgrounds related to ads that may have contributed to the persistence of this claim.

Sources:

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/does-coffee-stunt-growth
 

https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/health-and-nutrition/coffee-doesnt-stunt-your-growth