Personal Anecdotal Evidence Re: Coffee Consumption And Height

milk

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When I was 14 all my close friends were about the same height. I'm not being imprecise here, we really were about the same height. I'm thinking around 1,70 m. There were guys who were taller than us and guys who were shorter, but we were about average height.

I'm thinking of six guys specifically, including me.

I remember when I was around 14-16 years old I would talk about coffee-drinking with two of those guys. We were big coffee drinkers. I would drink my coffee without sugar, and a lot of it. I now realize I did it because of the stressful situation at home. I assume at least one of those guys did the same. Caffeine addiciton as coping mechanism. Very well, we're all short guys now. We're all around 1,74 m. We basically stopped growing in our mid-teens.

Meanwhile the other three guys, well, I don't remember them ever talking about coffee when they were teens. And they're all tall now. 1,84, 1,87 and 1,89. Curiously, the guy who now is 1,89 was a little shorter than the rest of us when we were small kids. They continued growing until their late teens.

Even today when I quit coffee for a whole day I feel my wisdom teeth emerging and a pressure in the bottom of my spine, which probably means my stunted back growth gets unlocked in the absence of caffeine. I'm still having a hard time quitting coffee, it does help with depression.

But yes, there you go. Some anedcdotal evidence for what it's worth. Wish I hadn't consumed so much coffee in my teens.
 

Quelsatron

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Too much coffee drives adrenaline, so habitually overusing it will probably stunt your growth

it's probably bad to introduce it to children since it's so easy to start chasing that adrenaline high
 

milkboi

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I "abused" caffeine since I was 14 or 15, often times in combination with undereating, and I'm 195 cm for what it's worth
 

Summer

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Interesting theory. I was a rampant soda drinker up until I was 12 or 13. I quit cold turkey and never went back. I’m pretty tall but I’ll always remember when I went to the dentist in my mid twenties and he was so surprised to see a new wisdom tooth coming in on my x-rays.
 

mrchibbs

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I didn't drink any coffee (barely) until I was 19-20. I am 190cm.
 

Maljam

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What if it was the stressful situation at home stunted your growth? Did the stressful situation cause you to eat less than your peers perhaps?

How tall are each of the 6 parents and grandparents, does the coffee cause a big difference in the expected height from you all?

Teenagers all grow at different rates. I'm sorry but there are far more variables involved for me to believe this.
 

MatheusPN

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I drink intermittently since I was at least 3-4, one or two coffee mugs, I remember that I tolerated better when I was 4 than now!?
I have 161,5 cm. I expect that people be real in their height here, most people I know, even men, say that they're 174 while being shorter than me hahaha
 

lvysaur

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I "abused" caffeine since I was 14 or 15, often times in combination with undereating, and I'm 195 cm for what it's worth
How tall were you at 14? If you did most of your growing by then it wouldn't have mattered.

IMO protein consumption, calcium, low parasite load, low stress, sleep, adequate sunshine and low caffeine intake are the best height-boosting factors for a child. Double if the mother can attain them while gestating too.

There are height differentials of 5 inches based on environmental factors alone (think North Korea vs. South Korea) and even 2 inches based on subtler factors (Northern China vs. US-raised equivalents)

I also drank a lot of coffee in high school and ended up at 177 cm. I also have a bias towards long legs/short torso, and from what I've heard the torso growth plates might be a little more malleable than the leg ones? Not sure, but I know the torso grows up after the legs.
 
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snacks

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How tall were you at 14? If you did most of your growing by then it wouldn't have mattered.

IMO protein consumption, calcium, low parasite load, low stress, sleep, adequate sunshine and low caffeine intake are the best height-boosting factors for a child. Double if the mother can attain them while gestating too.

There are height differentials of 5 inches based on environmental factors alone (think North Korea vs. South Korea) and even 2 inches based on subtler factors (Northern China vs. US-raised equivalents)

I also drank a lot of coffee in high school and ended up at 177 cm. I also have a bias towards long legs/short torso, and from what I've heard the torso growth plates might be a little more malleable than the leg ones? Not sure, but I know the torso grows up after the legs.

Northern China also has a slightly different genetic profile from American diaspora (which tends to be "pure" han or cantonese) due to manchurian etc. admixture. With immigrants the difference is even more pronounced. It's like comparing hokkkaido "Japanese" whose g-g-grandfathers spoke ainu with elite Japanese from the same province

That having been said, you're not wrong at all. I think another v interesting case study is the difference between guatamelan and guat-americans in height. I've seen people suggest that the diffferential is partially psychological
 

lvysaur

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Northern China also has a slightly different genetic profile from American diaspora
Well the source I'm remembering was comparing specifically Northern Chinese with equivalents raised in the US, with heights of 5'9" vs. 5'10.5". I know that most US Chinese are from the south.

Southern Chinese mainlanders are definitely not 5'9" (more like 5'8" or maybe even 7")

I think another v interesting case study is the difference between guatamelan and guat-americans in height. I've seen people suggest that the diffferential is partially psychological

What do you mean by psychological?
 

laleto12

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I literally never drank coffee until 20 but i am 1.78. However, i believe that i have big issues with adrenaline since 15-16 which probably stunted my growth. To this day i still couldnt solve the adrenaline problem.
 

PxD

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When I was 14 all my close friends were about the same height. I'm not being imprecise here, we really were about the same height. I'm thinking around 1,70 m. There were guys who were taller than us and guys who were shorter, but we were about average height.

I'm thinking of six guys specifically, including me.

I remember when I was around 14-16 years old I would talk about coffee-drinking with two of those guys. We were big coffee drinkers. I would drink my coffee without sugar, and a lot of it. I now realize I did it because of the stressful situation at home. I assume at least one of those guys did the same. Caffeine addiciton as coping mechanism. Very well, we're all short guys now. We're all around 1,74 m. We basically stopped growing in our mid-teens.

Meanwhile the other three guys, well, I don't remember them ever talking about coffee when they were teens. And they're all tall now. 1,84, 1,87 and 1,89. Curiously, the guy who now is 1,89 was a little shorter than the rest of us when we were small kids. They continued growing until their late teens.

Even today when I quit coffee for a whole day I feel my wisdom teeth emerging and a pressure in the bottom of my spine, which probably means my stunted back growth gets unlocked in the absence of caffeine. I'm still having a hard time quitting coffee, it does help with depression.

But yes, there you go. Some anedcdotal evidence for what it's worth. Wish I hadn't consumed so much coffee in my teens.

How tall are your parents and your friends' parents? That will have a bigger impact than how much coffee you did or didn't drink as teenagers.
 

Ableton

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In some other thread @baccheion recently explained why adrenaline types stop growing in their teens
Maybe that coffee shifted you towards it
Might have been the case for me too, but I started drinking it fairly late at least
Use search function
 

GreekDemiGod

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Never drank coffee in my teenage years. Only started drinking it after 24.
Grew over 180cm and reached my father's height.
However, I feel I haven't fully developed in the sense that my skeletal bone mass remained quite low, having the body of a frail teenager into adulthood. Thin arms, forearms, wrists, not so big bideltoid width, slim legs, thin neck.
Thanks god at least my shoulder to waist ratio is great
I am almost certain I've not been exposed to high levels of testosterone in my puberty. This is why I've always looked young for my age (neoteny)

Right now, I'm about 175 lbs at almost 6ft1. I will easily surpass 180 lbs.But I still feel skinny and frail. My arms still feel skinny. I honestly feel I need to get to 190 lbs packed with muscle, to look like a semblance of a man.
I have an ectomorph build, as said above.
I have not quit it, but I now only drink 1-2 cups / day, whereas before I was drinking about 3 very strong cups of espresso. No wonder I got low blood sugar from it.
 
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gately

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It used to be common knowledge coffee stunted growth.
 

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