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What Vegetables Make You Taller 2024 Healthy Diet

Mitchelle Morgan

Updated on - Written by
Medically reviewed by Kathy Shattler, MS, RDN

what vegetables make you taller
You can eat certain foods or vegetable supplements to grow taller. Photo: New Africa/Shutterstock

Many people might not know that vegetables can help grow taller as they think 80% of a person’s height is because of genetics.[1] But, that’s not to say that there aren’t other influences on your height growth. For instance, you can eat certain foods or vegetable supplements to grow taller. In essence, proper nutrition is essential for many reasons, including your growth and development. This article explores certain foods that can help you grow taller[2] and their scientific evidence. These are natural vegetables that are readily available. Stick around, and let’s explore how we can grow taller and have stronger joints and bones in our bodies

10 Vegetables Make You Grow Taller

  • Leafy Greens
  • Sweet Potatoes
  • Chinese Cabbage
  • Bok Choy
  • Beans
  • Brussels Sprouts
  • Broccoli
  • Okra
  • Green Peas
  • Rhubarb

What Vegetable Makes You Grow Taller?

Leafy Greens

Leafy Greens
Magnesium in leafy greens helps your bones remain healthy. Photo: Foodio/Shutterstock

Eat your greens! You’ve probably come across this statement numerous times. Eating leafy greens[3] is good for your body in many ways, including supplying essential nutrients. These leafy greens include foods like spinach, kale, cabbage, and arugula, which are easy to access.

These greens are rich in minerals such as potassium, magnesium, and Iron. The body requires potassium[4] because it helps in the nutrient absorption of Calcium which is crucial for strong bones. Weak bones can affect your ability to grow tall, so you also need magnesium to avoid stunted growth.

Magnesium in leafy greens comes in handy to help your bones remain healthy. You wind up with a higher bone mineral density which spares you from bone fractures. In addition, iron plays a crucial role in collagen production, a vital part of the human skeletal.[5]

Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are among the healthiest foods that you can consume. There’s no limit to how you can prepare this food, provided you make it a part of your diet.

You need to take sweet potatoes to improve bone health since they’re jam-packed with potassium. The mineral is quite essential[6] when it comes to bone health. Lack of potassium will cause you to have weak bones, stiffness, and even muscle cramps.

Other important nutrients in this food include:-

  • Vitamin B1: essential for digesting bone-building nutrients
  • Vitamin C: necessary for collagen formation; an antioxidant that helps prevent bone loss
  • Vitamin D: necessary for the absorption of calcium
  • Iron: deficiency of this mineral leads to osteoporosis
  • Calcium: necessary for the bone matrix 
  • Phosphorus: Calcium and phosphorus work together to build strong bones
  • Magnesium: stabilized bone-building functions

Chinese Cabbage

The Chinese cabbage makes it to the list of nutritional plants that you can eat to grow taller. People have been eating these cabbages for centuries. The vegetable from the cabbage family is quite nutritious and contributes to bone health in many ways.

First, it’s a rich source of Vitamin K, which you need to increase bone mass density. This way, you won’t be at risk of always getting fractures[7] when you get into minor accidents. Many bone-related proteins rely on the essential vitamin for carboxylation in metabolic processes.

Second, Chinese cabbage is a good source of Vitamin C, which your body needs while forming collagen. All the bones in your body have one foundation, which is collagen. Therefore, you must keep its production going to guarantee better bone health. Vitamin C also helps prevent bone resorption,[8] a process that occurs in osteoporosis.

Third, you can get lots of folate from eating cooked or raw cabbage. Folate or folic acid is necessary for the growth and development[9] of bones, especially in babies and young children. This is one reason why pregnant women are encouraged to eat more nutrient-rich foods that are a source of folate.

Bok Choy

As you search for more nutritional plants to add to your diet and boost height growth, don’t forget the formidable Bok Choy. This vegetable from the cabbage family is packed full of essential vitamins and minerals that your body needs to grow taller.

When you take Bok Choy, you consume Vitamin A, which is quite good for your overall health. Still, when stimulating bone growth hormones, this fat-soluble vitamin plays an essential role. It ensures you develop strong bones and skeletal systems by influencing the balance of osteoclasts, cells that break down bone, and osteocytes, bone-building healthy cells.

In addition, Bok Choy helps you absorb minerals[10] like iron and zinc, which your skeletal system needs for collagen synthesis. That’s how you end up with a better bone structure and decreased risk for osteoporosis.

Beans

Beans
Beans have loads of Vitamin B1, which helps you grow taller. Photo: pbd Studio/Shutterstock

Making your diet as diverse as possible will help you grow taller and have healthier bones. Another food that can help you achieve this is beans, a form of starchy vegetables. Beans, like other starchy vegetables, are a rich source of protein.[11] Children require the most abundant protein during a growth spurt to keep up with bone growth.

As a macronutrient, the plant-based protein you get from beans plays a role in increasing the amount of IGF-1 (Insulin Growth Factor-1).[11] This is an essential hormone that helps children’s cell growth. IGF-1 and growth hormones together make stable bone tissue. Therefore eating lots of beans before the age of 10 is important for kids to get lots of plant protein.

In addition, beans have loads of Vitamin B1, which helps you grow taller. In essence, vitamin plays an essential role[12] in properly digesting food. That way, it helps maintain a healthy heart and nervous system crucial for your bone growth hormones.

Brussels Sprouts

Brussels sprouts are quite lovely and mix well with other vegetables. From them, you can get protein and fiber. Fiber is good for skeletal health since it helps the bones absorb[13] and retain lots of minerals resulting in healthy and strong bones.

These formidable vegetables are also a rich source of Vitamin K. Your body and bones need this vitamin,[14] and this is why some people opt for supplements to ensure they get enough. But, eating Brussels sprouts is another way of ensuring your body benefits.

Broccoli

One of the most famous green vegetables is Broccoli, which is a feature of many healthy meals. Well, apart from maintaining a good weight, Broccoli can also benefit your bone metabolism.

Right off the bat, the vegetable is a great source of calcium. Your bones need calcium to activate bone growth hormones. When you lack calcium,[15] you can end up with weak bones prone to fractures. But, for your bones to absorb calcium, you also need Vitamin D.

In addition, you also get lots of other essential minerals such as zinc and phosphorous. Your bones need zinc if you want to become taller. According to scientific research, the mineral[16] plays a huge role in improving bone density and regeneration.

As for phosphorous, it works in unison with[17] calcium to build stronger bones and tissue growth. Calcium alone can’t complete this crucial task which is why you need starchy vegetables like Broccoli rich in phosphorous.

Okra

Okra is another example of a natural vegetable that has quite impressive benefits. When you eat the Okra seed pods, you grow taller because they contain[18] Vitamin B6 and folate. Both are also essential in preventing osteoporosis.[19] Osteoporosis can rob you of bone height thus reducing your stature.

Not to mention you also get other essential minerals like magnesium. When it comes to skeletal health and bone metabolism, magnesium ensures you have a higher bone density. That way, you won’t have weak bones that bruise or beak easily or have stunted growth.

Therefore, ensure you take loads of Okra which also carries a lot of vitamins A, C, and K. All play an essential role in helping height growth.

Green Peas

Do you love some delicious peas with your meals? Well, you might want to add some more since these are good for your bones. Green peas are a starchy vegetable rich in minerals and vitamins good for your bones.

A good example is potassium which your body needs to form a buffer for other minerals. It’s easy for crucial minerals like calcium and phosphorus to get lost in the body. But, when you have potassium, it forms a protective layer[20] that keeps this from happening.

Also, you get important minerals like Manganese. This mineral is an integral part of bone development and maintenance. In essence, you get better bone density when you eat foods that give you lots of manganese, calcium, and zinc.

Rhubarb

Rhubarb is the final edible plant you can make part of your everyday diet to become taller. The vegetable[21] is rich in Vitamin K1, which is essential for bone density. Good bone density is so important because you end up with stronger bones and joints in the body.

Other additional vitamins and minerals in Rhubarb that are good for your skeletal health include:

  • Calcium
  • Vitamin C
  • Folic acid
  • Potassium

In essence, eating more vegetables will help you with better bone growth and development. You can eat a combination of all the vegetables listed above. That way, you have more of the minerals and vitamins that your bones need.

In Summary

Including adequate antioxidants in the diet from eating vegetables can help in bone remodeling and the prevention of oxidative stress which causes increased bone turnover. Vitamin C is a great antioxidant to include in your diet. Vitamin E also has antioxidant properties and can be found abundantly in turnip greens, beet greens, and spinach.

Bone health is essential if you want to boost height growth. You should eat certain edible plants scientifically known to aid bone growth hormones to achieve this. The ten vegetables listed above are readily available and jam-packed with essential bone-building vitamins and minerals. You can also add dairy products and healthy fats to the mix.


+ 21 sources

Health Canal avoids using tertiary references. We have strict sourcing guidelines and rely on peer-reviewed studies, academic researches from medical associations and institutions. To ensure the accuracy of articles in Health Canal, you can read more about the editorial process here

  1. Medlineplus.gov. (2017). Is height determined by genetics?: MedlinePlus Genetics. [online] Available at: https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/understanding/traits/height/.
  2. ‌McEvoy, B. and Visscher, P.M. (2009). Genetics of human height. Economics and Human Biology, [online] 7(3), pp.294–306. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2009.09.005.
  3. ‌Brouwer‐Brolsma, E.M., Brandl, B., Marion, Skurk, T. and Manach, C. (2020). Food intake biomarkers for green leafy vegetables, bulb vegetables, and stem vegetables: a review. Genes and Nutrition, [online] 15(1). doi:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12263-020-00667-z.
  4. ‌Sung Hye Kong, Kim, J.H., A Ram Hong, Lee, J.H., Kim, S.W. and Chan Soo Shin (2017). Dietary potassium intake is beneficial to bone health in a low calcium intake population: the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) (2008–2011). Osteoporosis International, [online] 28(5), pp.1577–1585. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s00198-017-3908-4.
  5. ‌Balogh, E., György Paragh and Jeney, V. (2018). Influence of Iron on Bone Homeostasis. Pharmaceuticals, [online] 11(4), pp.107–107. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/ph11040107.
  6. ‌Ha, J., Kim, S.-A., Lim, K.F. and Shin, S. (2020). The association of potassium intake with bone mineral density and the prevalence of osteoporosis among older Korean adults. Nutrition Research and Practice, [online] 14(1), pp.55–55. doi:https://doi.org/10.4162/nrp.2020.14.1.55.
  7. Weber, P. (2001). Vitamin K and bone health. Nutrition, [online] 17(10), pp.880–887. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/s0899-9007(01)00709-2.
  8. ‌Domazetovic, Marcucci, G., Iantomasi, T., Brandi, M.L. and Vincenzini Mt (2017). Oxidative stress in bone remodeling: role of antioxidants. Clinical cases in mineral and bone metabolism : the official journal of the Italian Society of Osteoporosis, Mineral Metabolism, and Skeletal Diseases, [online] 14(2), pp.209–209. doi:https://doi.org/10.11138/ccmbm/2017.14.1.209.
  9. ‌Karin, Schoor, van and Lips, P. (2013). Vitamin B12, Folic Acid, and Bone. Current Osteoporosis Reports, [online] 11(3), pp.213–218. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s11914-013-0155-2.
  10. ‌Suzuki, M., Mahnaz Ramezanpour, Cooksley, C., Lee, T.J., Bae Kwon Jeong, Stephen Shih‐Teng Kao, Suzuki, T., Alkis James Psaltis, Yuji Nakamaru, Homma, A., Wormald, P. and Vreugde, S. (2020). Zinc-depletion associates with tissue eosinophilia and collagen depletion in chronic rhinosinusitis. Rhinology, [online] 0(0). doi:https://doi.org/10.4193/rhin19.383.
  11. Polak, R., Phillips, E.M. and Campbell, A. (2015). Legumes: Health Benefits and Culinary Approaches to Increase Intake. Clinical Diabetes, [online] 33(4), pp.198–205. doi:https://doi.org/10.2337/diaclin.33.4.198.
  12. ‌Strand, T.A., Taneja, S., Kumar, T., Manger, M.S., Refsum, H., Yajnik, C.S. and Bhandari, N. (2015). Vitamin B-12, Folic Acid, and Growth in 6- to 30-Month-Old Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Pediatrics, [online] 135(4), pp.e918–e926. doi:https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2014-1848.
  13. ‌Weaver, C.M., Martin, B.R., Story, J.A., Hutchinson, I. and Sanders, L. (2010). Novel Fibers Increase Bone Calcium Content and Strength beyond Efficiency of Large Intestine Fermentation. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, [online] 58(16), pp.8952–8957. doi:https://doi.org/10.1021/jf904086d.
  14. ‌Hamidi, M., Gajic‐Veljanoski, O. and Cheung, A.M. (2013). Vitamin K and Bone Health. Journal of Clinical Densitometry, [online] 16(4), pp.409–413. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jocd.2013.08.017.
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Mitchelle Morgan

Medically reviewed by:

Kathy Shattler

Mitchelle Morgan is a health and wellness writer with over 10 years of experience. She holds a Master's in Communication. Her mission is to provide readers with information that helps them live a better lifestyle. All her work is backed by scientific evidence to ensure readers get valuable and actionable content.

Medically reviewed by:

Kathy Shattler

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