effect of being a vegetarian on growth

[nice sax]

Is there any evidence that children who are strict vegetarians from birth grow up to be shorter than non vegetarians.

I am asking this question as one of our friends has a boy of 13 who appears to be very short for his age, although both his parents are average height.

Any help will be appreciated

[ummmm]

No...vegetarian diets are fine.

My son, 14, meat eater, is still wearing age 10/11 clothes. My 12 year old (almost) is wearing 12/13.

[jake-the-peg]

Hmmm not sure about that.

However a few years back I took my kids to the RI Christmas lectures and they did a test with 5 girls one who had been a vegan for many years.

They sent a strand of hair from each to a lab on the other side of London and at the end went back with a live link.

The Nalayst said Yes we've worked out which one it is, and then looked a bit concerned when he called out number 3 as she was slightly tubby and not a stereotypical vegitarian!

They were right though she was the vegan.

I think it's quite possible for strict vegitarians to get all theat they need without meat providing that they eat an otherwise balanced diet. However we all know how fussy kids can be as eaters and I've met a number of vegetarians subsisting on chips and cheese and the like so removing meat could cause difficulties if they're not getting protein from other sources.

But remeber boys tend to put on a growth spurt later than girls and we can get genetic traits that skip generations and aren't from our direct parents.

Not to mention of course that there is a surprising number of people who's real father is not who everybody thinks it is

[237SJ]

A large percentage of the population in India are vegetarian and I wouldn`t say they seem shorter.