Few foods or drinks have been as well studied as coffee. Research have looked at coffee’s possible connection to cancer, infertility, heart disease and a host of other problems but did you ever hear that coffee might stunt your growth?
Most research finds no correlation between caffeine consumption and bone growth in kids.In adults, researchers have seen that increased caffeine consumption can very slightly limit calcium absorption, but the impact is so small that a tablespoon of milk will more than adequately offset the effects of a cup of coffee.
The myth had been largely poplar due to advertisiment of a Cereal manufacturer named C.W whichwas trying to market a morning beverage called “Postum” as an alternative to coffee, so he ran ads on the “evils” of Americans’ favorite hot beverage, calling it a “nerve poison” that should never be served to children.There is no scientifically valid evidence to suggest that coffee can stunt a person’s growth.This idea may have come from the misconception that coffee causes osteoporosis (a condition that may be associated with loss of height).But blaming coffee for height loss due to osteoporosis is faulty reasoning for at least two reasons:
- Coffee does not cause osteoporosis.
- Osteoporosis does not routinely make you short.
when the studies suggesting a link were analyzed, it turned out that people who drank more coffee drank less milk and other calcium-containing beverages. So it was probably the dietary intake of calcium and vitamin D among coffee drinkers, not the coffee, that increased the risk of osteoporosis.
Health -Myths Debunked 