Secrets and tips for children's growth

By Lee Sung-hun

The Ministry of Education announced early this year the average elementary school student is about 2 centimeters taller than 10 years ago.

At the same time, high school students were shorter by 0.1 centimeter for boys and 0.2 centimeters for girls. It also found 15 out of 100 students in all age groups were obese with the rate on the rise.

There is a tendency for many obese children to have early puberty.

Early puberty comes with a growth spurt that starts earlier. But the flip side is that the spurt also stops earlier leading to a shorter average height in older children.

Height is a concern of children and parents alike. In today’s column, I want to share some thoughts about encouraging children’s growth.

Nurture over nature. The 2006 World Health Organization (WHO) report on child growth standards said genetic factors influence a child’s growth by about 23 percent, while environmental influences such as lifestyle, diet and exercise are a much greater factor.

Parent’s height alone does not determine how tall a child will grow, but how the parents raise the child does.

In Oriental medicine, we employ various methods for boosting a child’s growth.

The first step is to prevent children catching a cold. Some readers have probably seen a child in kindergarten who never really shakes off a cold because when they are about to get better, they catch another one from a friend.

A cold reduces the appetite and a child experiencing eating difficulties can develop enteritis. This is often accompanied with nausea and diarrhea, which hinders proper nutritional intake. Fighting off a cold consumes the energy needed for a child’s growth.

The second step is to cure rhinitis. A blocked nasal passage forces the child to breathe through the mouth, which prevents deep sleep and eventually hinders proper secretion of growth hormones.

In Oriental medicine, the kidneys are the organs where qi that we receive from our parents is stored as well as the qi that we gain from food and drink.

Boosting qi energy in the kidneys can strengthening a child’s immunity, as well as boost the growth of bone. Adding qi in the lungs also helps the process by helping breathing capacity through the nose.

The third step is preventing obesity.

In Korea, there is a conventional wisdom that child obesity will eventually turn into height, so we don’t need to fret over a chubby child so much.

However, it is alarming that over half of Korean students eat fast-food more than once a week. Minimizing a high-calorie diet is critical to keeping proper weight. Although obese children on average are taller than non-obese children of the same age group, their bone age is older and about 70% of them end up obese in adulthood.

Furthermore, being obese can lead to early puberty which will stall later growth. An obese child will be shorter than average as an adult.

For an extremely obese child with a body mass index over 50, a weight loss program is prescribed.

While over-nutrition led obesity is a hindering factor for growth, malnutrition also has adverse effects.

Oriental medicine classifies qi in our body into two groups; the inherited qi from our parents and the consumed qi from food.

While inherited qi cannot be altered during life, qi from food can change depending on diet.

Oriental medicine facilitates nourishment by stimulating the digestive functions of our stomach and spleen.

The last step is correcting improper posture from the overuse of computers and smart phones. Extensively leaning forward or backward for these devices can distort the curvature of the vertebrae, shortening the height of children. Chuna-chiropracty helps the process.

The writer practices Korean Oriental medicine at the UN Oriental Medical Clinic in Hannam-dong, Seoul. He can be reached at sung_hun@naver.com.