Does Milk Make You Taller? What the Research Says

What decides how tall a child gets

Height is mostly inherited. MedlinePlus says scientists estimate that about 80 percent of a person’s height is determined by DNA sequence variations. That is why kids tend to end up near their parents’ height.

The rest comes from a child’s surroundings. The same page says a well nourished, healthy and active child is likely to be taller as an adult than a child with a poor diet, infectious diseases or inadequate health care. Our guide on how to grow taller covers the whole picture, and our sleep guide covers rest. So does milk make you taller than your genes allow? No.

What the research says about milk and height

Does drinking milk make you grow taller? Parents hear that it adds inches, and that it does nothing. The studies sit in between.

Observational studies: a link, not a cause

A 2026 review in Nutrients looked at 12 studies of children from 6 months to 12 years old. Nine were observational and three were experiments. Most linked more cow’s milk with better growth in height. The authors rated the risk of bias as mostly moderate and gave no formal certainty rating.

Observational means researchers see what kids already eat and how tall they are. Families that serve a lot of milk may differ in other ways. These studies show a link, not a cause.

Trials: small and mixed results

Trials ask the question head on: does milk make you taller if kids drink more of it? Here is how the main ones came out.

Study	What it covered	Height result
Kang 2019	17 trials, 2,844 healthy children aged 6 to 18, milk or milk products for 12 weeks or more	No significant change in height versus control groups
Hidayat 2023	Trials of dairy added to the diet, ages 3 to 18	Height up 0.21 cm; whole body bone mineral content up about 3 percent
de Beer 2012	12 controlled studies of dairy added to the usual diet	Most likely effect about 0.4 cm more growth per year for about 245 ml of milk a day; moderate quality evidence
de Lamas 2019	13 articles on controlled trials in children	Bone mineral content went up; results for height were inconclusive
D-pro trial 2021	200 healthy Danish children aged 6 to 8, 24 weeks, high protein versus normal protein yogurt	Height was not affected

Do not add the 0.21 cm and 0.4 cm figures together. The 0.21 cm figure is a pooled difference between groups. The 0.4 cm figure is a yearly estimate.

Why the results differ

Why does milk make you taller in one study and not in the next? Four things stand out.

• Who was studied. Kang left out undernourished children. The de Beer review found a larger effect in shorter children and in teenagers.
• Fortified milk. The Nutrients review notes that several trials used fortified milk, so it is hard to separate the effect of milk from the added nutrients.
• Study quality. de Beer reports that many studies lacked randomisation or had groups that differed in height and age at the start.
• Who paid or worked on it. Always check. Three authors of the Hidayat paper work for a dairy company, though a Chinese government science fund paid for the study. One author of the Nutrients review also works for a dairy company.

Our read: the studies do not agree on which children gain the most. de Beer found a larger effect in shorter children, while in the Hidayat analysis the height gain was significant only in children who already got more calcium. Milk and height are linked, but nothing here shows milk can push a child past their genes.

Calcium, protein and IGF-1: what milk gives growing kids

Does milk make you taller through its nutrients? They support normal growth. They do not stretch a child past their genes.

Calcium and vitamin D build bone

The 2019 review by de Lamas notes that protein, calcium and vitamin D play roles in growth, and that milk and dairy are rich in them. The NIH Office of Dietary Supplements says about 72 percent of calcium in the US diet comes from dairy and foods with dairy ingredients. One cup of whole milk has 276 mg of calcium.

Almost all US milk is fortified with about 3 mcg (120 IU) of vitamin D per cup, according to the vitamin D fact sheet. Children aged 1 to 18 need 15 mcg (600 IU) a day, so a cup covers about one fifth of that.

In the Hidayat analysis, dairy raised whole body bone mineral content by about 3 percent. In the D-pro trial, 20 mcg a day of vitamin D raised some bone measures, though that is a trial dose and not advice. Ask your pediatrician about vitamin D. Our vitamins for kids guide goes deeper.

Protein and IGF-1: not proof of a taller child

IGF-1 is a growth factor in the blood. The Hidayat analysis found dairy raised it. But the Kang analysis of healthy children found no significant change in height.

In a Danish trial of 129 children aged 7 to 8, IGF-1 rose about 16 percent over 4 weeks, and the rise did not differ whether the protein came from milk or from a milk and rapeseed mix. A higher IGF-1 number is a lab result. It does not tell you a child will be taller.

How much dairy kids need

Calcium needs rise with age. These amounts count all food and drinks.

Age	Calcium a day	Calcium upper limit	Vitamin D a day
1 to 3	700 mg	2,500 mg	15 mcg (600 IU)
4 to 8	1,000 mg	2,500 mg	15 mcg (600 IU)
9 to 13	1,300 mg	3,000 mg	15 mcg (600 IU)
14 to 18	1,300 mg	3,000 mg	15 mcg (600 IU)

For servings, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says children aged 2 to 3 should have about 2.5 servings of dairy a day. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025 to 2030 set a goal of 3 servings a day in a 2,000 calorie pattern. They also say to choose full fat dairy with no added sugars, and that full fat dairy helps children aged 5 to 10 meet energy needs and support brain development.

Sweetened dairy is worth a second look. In one teen survey, sweetened dairy showed no link with height. See sugar in kids’ vitamins for spotting added sugar.

Does milk make you taller at 12, 14 or 16?

Does milk make you taller at 14? Teens ask this a lot. The best data we found is a school survey in Israel of 3,529 students in grades 7 to 12, with an average age of 15. Each step up in unsweetened dairy intake went with about 0.04 higher height for age z score, which the authors put at 0.3 to 0.4 cm. They found no such link for sweetened dairy.

This was a one time survey, so it shows a link only. The authors say intervention studies are needed to show cause. We did not find a source showing that milk adds height once a teen has stopped growing. See our guides on the growth spurt, growth plates and when guys stop growing.

Kids who can’t drink milk

Plenty of kids skip milk because of lactose intolerance, an allergy or taste. They can still get calcium.

Food	Serving	Calcium
Plain low fat yogurt	8 oz	415 mg
Nonfat milk	1 cup	299 mg
Calcium fortified soymilk	1 cup	299 mg
Whole milk	1 cup	276 mg
Firm tofu made with calcium sulfate	½ cup	253 mg
Canned pink salmon with bones	3 oz	181 mg

Plant milks vary a lot. This chart from the AAP shows one cup of each.

Milk (1 cup)	Protein	Calcium
Whole cow’s milk	7.69 g	276 mg
Soy	6.34 g	300 mg
Pea	8 g	440 mg
Oat	4 g	350 mg
Almond	1.44 g	481 mg

• Lactose intolerance. The NIDDK says many people can have 12 g of lactose, about 1 cup of milk, with no or mild symptoms. Lactose free milk keeps the same calcium as regular dairy, per the NIH calcium fact sheet. Choose products with added vitamin D.
• Milk allergy. The AAP says about 50 percent of infants with cow’s milk protein allergy may also react to soy. Talk to your doctor before swapping.
• Labels. The AAP says milk alternatives often have less protein than cow’s milk, and flavored ones often contain added sugar. The NIH vitamin D fact sheet lists 2.5 to 3.6 mcg of vitamin D per cup for fortified soy, almond and oat milks, so check the label for calcium and vitamin D. Our label reading guide helps.

For more ideas, see foods that support normal growth.

Do you need a supplement?

Food comes first. A vitamin or gummy cannot add height. It can only help fill a nutrient gap, ideally one a pediatrician has found. Read our guides to growth gummies for kids and height growth supplements before you buy anything. If you are weighing a growth gummy, see our pick below.

When to talk to a pediatrician

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