Boys are falling for TruHeight, a supplement promising to aid growth. Pediatricians are skeptical.

A supplement with a heavy social media presence is raising some eyebrows in the medical community for suggesting that it helps kids grow taller. It’s called TruHeight, and the supplement claims to help kids reach their height potential.

TruHeight has been tapping influencers to promote their products and popping up on TikTok Shop, while the brand regularly posts photos and videos on the social media platform featuring kids and teens being physically active. “Me looking at bro complain about being small after I’ve told him about TruHeight many times,” reads one video.

Posts are filled with testimonials from users who swear they sprouted up after taking the supplements. “My mom got this for me last Christmas. Grew 3 inches in like 5 months,” one person wrote in the comments of a post. But people online have pointed out that these supplements aren’t cheap. The brand’s Growth Gummies, which provide a 30-day supply of supplements, are $40.50 on the TruHeight website. A tub of TruHeight Growth Plant Protein Shake, which has 15 servings per container, is also $40.50. They’re even more expensive on Amazon, where many of the products sell for $45.

But what’s in TruHeight and does it actually work? Pediatricians weigh in.

What’s in TruHeight?

TruHeight is a supplement brand owned by Vanilla Chip, a company that has been involved in several lawsuits, including one filed in April 2024 that alleges TruHeight made “false and misleading advertising claims” about growth in kids. There have been 36 consumer complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau against Vanilla Chip, which was given a D rating by the agency.

TruHeight sells a range of supplements, including capsules, gummies and protein powders that claim to enhance growth in kids. The brand also sells TruHeight Sleep gummies that claim to “support sleep and growth.”

Every TruHeight product is slightly different, but the TruHeight Growth Capsules say they contain calcium (a mineral involved in bone production), vitamin K (which helps regulate calcium in the body), vitamin D (which helps the body absorb calcium) and ashwagandha (an herb that may help curb stress).

According to the label, the TruHeight Sleep gummies contain melatonin (a hormone that helps regulate the body’s sleep-wake cycle), L-theanine (an amino acid linked to sleep and reduced stress ) and lemon balm (an herb that may help reduce anxiety and indigestion).

What does TruHeight claim?

Despite its name, TruHeight is careful not to explicitly state that it will help kids get taller. Instead, the company uses language on its website that states things like its supplements “support healthy growth and development” and “supports normal bone growth and function.”

The brand has a clinical trials section on its website that says TruHeight “put our growth innovations to the test.” The site also states that after a six-month clinical pilot trial — another word for a small study used to see if information can be gathered for a larger study, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) — children who took TruHeight daily had a “statistically significant increase in collagen X” compared to those who didn’t take the supplement. According to TruHeight, collagen X is a “critical biomarker closely linked to the activity in the growth plates of developing bones.”

But the brand doesn’t give any details about the pilot study, including who these kids were, how many were involved in the study and which TruHeight product they used. It also doesn’t say if the children actually grew taller during that time — the brand just notes that the kids had higher levels of one biomarker. An online search for a study that appears to be the one referenced found that just 20 children completed the study, which is considered very small in the scientific community.

Beyond that, TruHeight links to a slew of studies that were not connected to the company and did not use its products. (TruHeight did not respond to Yahoo Life’s request for comment by deadline.)

Will TruHeight help kids grow?

Pediatricians are not confident that TruHeight will make children grow. “In general, for children who are malnourished and failing to thrive, nutritional supplementation with specific nutrients that are absent can impact their growth — height and weight gain,” Dr. Krupa Playforth, a pediatrician in Virginia and founder of The Pediatrician Mom, tells Yahoo Life.

“However, for the average child — even a picky child — supplements like this are unlikely to make any significant impact on growth,” she continues. Ultimately, Playforth says, “the biggest predictor of height is genetics.” Meaning, if the parents are on the shorter side, their children are also likely to be shorter as well, and vice versa.

“There’s no strong scientific evidence that supplements can significantly increase a child’s height,” Dr. Daniel Ganjian, a pediatrician at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., tells Yahoo Life.

Nutrition does matter, though. “Nutrition is a key driver of growth, particularly in infancy, but also at all ages,” Dr. Zoltan Antal, chief of pediatric endocrinology at NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine, tells Yahoo Life. “Infants who do not gain adequate weight tend to also not grow adequately. Similarly, adolescents who lose or restrict weight tend to have inadequate growth spurts.”

Children with conditions that interfere with their ability to absorb nutrients, like Crohn’s disease, celiac disease and other inflammatory conditions of the intestines, may also struggle to grow, notes Antal. “So it’s not simply about eating enough calories — it is also making sure they are absorbed properly,” he says.

There’s another important element to consider: Most healthy kids grow over time regardless of what they eat or the supplements they take. Kids grow about two inches a year from toddlerhood to puberty, and then about three inches per year during puberty, according to the Cleveland Clinic. That makes it tricky to link a child’s growth to a specific supplement.

Are there any downsides to taking this?

There are a few things to keep in mind. “Supplements are unregulated, and there is a common misconception that just because something is available on the market that it is safe and effective,” Playforth says. That lack of regulation means that what’s listed on a product’s label may not be what is actually in the supplement.

There’s also the potential for side effects. “Some supplements can interact with medications or cause other health problems,” Ganjian says.

He points out that supplements — particularly TruHeight supplements — aren’t cheap either. That can mean parents are paying large amounts of money for a product that doesn’t do anything. Ganjian adds that taking a supplement like this can leave families with unrealistic expectations. “Relying on supplements can lead to disappointment if they don’t work,” he says.

Why are boys in particular so drawn to this?

Boys are under a lot of societal pressure to look a certain way, Ganjian says. “Boys may feel pressure to be tall and muscular, especially in sports or certain social circles,” he says.

TruHeight also uses cool, sporty teens in its social media posts, and Ganjian says that can appeal to boys who may be struggling with confidence and wish they were taller or stronger.

What to do if you’re concerned about your child’s growth

If you’re worried about your child’s growth, Antal recommends speaking with their pediatrician. The doctor will likely go over your child’s growth curve, which tracks height and weight over time, to confirm that your child is in a stable growing pattern. “Even if that growth percentile is at the bottom of the growth curve, such as the third or fifth percentile, as long as growth is stable along the percentile, it is very unusual to have an underlying medical condition,” Antal says.

He also recommends thinking about the stage of puberty a child is in. “If the child has not yet started puberty, a steady rate of growth is normal,” he says. “However, if the child has begun pubertal development, then the growth rate should be increasing compared to the rate of growth prior to puberty.”

Overall, Ganjian stresses that parents should be realistic about their expectations for their child’s height and talk to their doctor if they have concerns.

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