Protein-Rich Diet Can Make Your Infant Grow Taller At A Higher Rate, Says Study

What you feed your little ones in the toddler stage can have an impact on their height when they grow up. A new research has indicated that feeding protein-rich foods to infants may help them grow taller early on. The results of the study which were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, pointed out some protein-rich food alternatives to baby formula in the form of pureed meats, like pork. The study suggested that these protein-rich foods may be incorporated in an infant's diet during its transition to solid food.

Lead study author Minghua Tang, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at University of Colorado Denver-Anschutz, in the US said, "Meat, such as pork, provides important micronutrients, is an excellent source of protein and can be an important complementary food for infants who are ready for solid foods." She added by saying: "Our research suggests introducing higher amounts of protein and introducing meat, such as pork, into the diet at five months could be potentially beneficial for linear growth (length gain)".

The researchers had conducted the study by increasing the protein-intake of a group of infants between five and 12 months old. The protein-intake of the kids in the sample size was increased from two grams per Kg per day before the study, to three grams per Kg, per day. While one part of the group was fed protein-rich foods in the form of pureed meats, the other part was fed dairy-based complementary foods. While the amount of protein was increased, the amount of fat and calorie-intake was kept the same for both parts of the group.

The study found that protein-rich meals like pureed meats promoted greater rate of length gain than dairy-based foods in the infants. The results showed that the group that ate more protein-rich meat showed a length growth of an inch more than the group that was fed the other type of food.

(With IANS inputs)