Does Coffee Stunt Your Growth? Coffee is one of the most widely consumed caffeinated drinks in the world. This is largely due to its energizing effects, as well as its large flavor and aroma.
In fact, US aged 18 – 65 drink more coffee than other caffeinated beverages, including energy drinks, tea and soda. Among teenagers, coffee is the second most caffeinated drink consumed, following an energy drink.
Thus, there is a lot of debate whether coffee is safe for teenagers, because it is considered to inhibit proper bone growth and development.
We know that the coffee we often consume contains a substance called caffeine.
As long as it is consumed in reasonable limits, coffee will not cause any problems to health.
Does Coffee Stunt Your Growth?
It has been circulated myth that coffee can inhibit high growth in adolescents, but actually this is not medically proven.
For some time, growing teenagers have been warned that drinking coffee will impede their growth. Does Coffee Stunt Your Growth?
However, there is no evidence that drinking coffee has an effect on height.
Research states there are no significant differences in bone density in teenagers who drink coffee or not.
Getting to know caffeine.
Caffeine is a natural content found in some food and drink even medicines. According to scientists, caffeine is not harmful as long as we do not excessive in consuming it. When we drink caffeine, our brain function becomes active and gradually our energy increases. We can find this content in coffee, tea, soda, energy drinks and chocolate.
The coffee itself does not cause growth inhibition. However, the effects of caffeine itself can cause various health problems if consumed excessively.
Read also: Is coffee really healthy?
Caffeine will inhibit the absorption of some nutrients, especially if taken together.
Caffeine itself is known to provide a risk of osteoporosis or impairment of bone mass if consumed excessively. That is why researchers then concluded drinking excessive coffee, makes child growth disturbed.
Then it is advisable not to consume coffee at the same time by consuming nutritious foods or multivitamins, to avoid impaired nutrient absorption.
In the period of growth, it is recommended to consume healthy and nutritious food, exercise routine, and enough rest time. With such wakefulness of body health and growth is not hindered.
Coffee can also be a risk factor for bone deterioration if drinking coffee replaces milk, where milk is an excellent source of calcium for bone development in the period of growth.
However, teenagers should limit caffeine intake to only 100mg/day, or equal to one cup of coffee every day. Because too much caffeine can cause some things, among them is heart pounding, decreased hunger (which can cause appetite to be reduced so that adolescents eat less nutritious food intake), indigestion, Sleep disorders (where sleep is very important, because growth hormone works especially during sleep), and so on.
Read also: How to lower resting heart rate.
Coffee makes children insomnia.
In fact, children aged up to 12 years old need to sleep at least 11 hours a day. While teenagers ages 12 to 18 have to sleep about 10 hours a day. This bedtime is needed so that every function of the body works well.
If the child is drinking coffee, caffeine is still stored in the child’s body up to 8 hours afterwards. When the sleeping time arrives, the child is still awake and has not felt the urge to rest. This certainly makes their bedtime disturbed, but the child must get up early to prepare for school.
Read also: Drinking Coffee Makes Me Sleepy, Does it Happen to You?
Caffeine interferes with calcium absorption.
Coffee contains caffeine, which is diuretic, which is triggering the production of urine. The faster the urine is excreted by the kidneys, the more calcium that has not been absorbed by the body is wasted. In fact, calcium is needed by children to form strong bones and teeth. Less calcium is risky to inhibit the growth of children and cause problems such as cavities.
Thank you very much for reading Does Coffee Stunt Your Growth?, hopefully useful.
