For a friend huh? Well the answer is simply to eat more. You don’t have to go eat fattening foods either just eat more food but healthier food as well. Eating more protein can help…If your (friend) is vegan then eating foods such as broccoli and beans which have a lot of protein is good too…Hope this helped.

As long as you (uh-hum, I mean your friend) eats a balanced diet and doesn’t seriously lack in any vitamins, then there’s pretty much a genetic pre-programmed height that can’t be changed. Get enough calcium and vitamin D and you’ll pretty much maximize your growth potential. Oh, and don’t smoke or drink too much as they can both interfere with the body’s ability to retain & properly use vitamins.

Sorry, there’s no magic pill for growth. Even hormones generally won’t affect height, mostly just potential muscle mass.

At the age of 17, it’s possible your bones have stopped or come close to stopping growth. Once the epiphysial plates near the ends of the long bones (legs and arms) have fused (synostosis), growth is completed and permanent.

Sorry, probably not the answer you were looking for.

Firstly go to a doctor and have some hormone tests, like thyroid hormone. If hyperthyroidism is the case, no matter what you eat, you won’t gain weight.

He’s not asking about weight, he’s asking about height. It is unlikely that he has any sort of ailment if he’s below average height. Heights vary quite a bit. Unless the poster is talking about a height of under 5′ 2" for a 17 year old, it’s unlikely the cause is anything other than normal genetic height variations.

Furthermore, at that age, there is simply nothing that can be done (in terms of increasing the height), even if the height were the result of disease or dietary deficiencies.

I suspect the poster is hoping there’s some way to exercise their height a couple inches, in which case, the answer is no. There’s nothing you can do.

Oh… I read it wrong.
I think the answer is no, you will need some hormone pills.

Again, I stick to my initial statement that height is determined genetically.

There is a possibility that hormones may be used, but a doctor will only give them if the person is 1: Significantly under the height curve (at 17, about 5’2" or shorter) and 2: The person is actually deficient in the hormone, which can be tested. I suspect that this would only be done at a younger age as well.

Otherwise, you’re pretty much stuck with the genes you were born with.

Also, I’d like to point out that in the late teens and early 20s, taking these hormones is unlikely to help much as the epiphysial plates have fused or are in the process of fusing and taking growth hormones at this age can induce acromegaly which I guarantee you will be worse than being a little short. (Andre the Giant suffered from acromelagy, so if you want his facial and hand features, then go for it.)

Pete

Height isn’t the only things girls go for ;). Sorry if I’m jumping to conclusions.

Yes it is determined genetically, but children can be taller than their parents according to other factors. Not much maybe. Also sometimes there are some hormonal problems. That is what I was pointing out.

@Dave (mithrilhack) :
Yes, that’s right. 😉

Poison,

Height is determined by genetics (assuming no hormone problems), but just because it’s determined by genetics doesn’t mean that you’ll be the same height as your parents. I suspect there are several genes that, overall, determine your height. There will always be people who are unusually larger or shorter than their parents, but that doesn’t mean the genes aren’t the determining factor. Just like your parents can both be blonde and you can have brown hair. You still inherited the brown hair from your parents, even if they don’t have brown hair.

Pete

The hormones of puberty regulate the timing of adolescent growth. Typically, females experience a growth spurt begining about age 10 which slows by age 14 and is usually complete by 16.

Males’ growth spurts start later (about 12) and can continue until age 18 or after. However, I should stress that these ages are only averages, normal timing for individuals can vary by 2-3 years in either direction. Some 14 year olds are in the late stages of puberty, others have barely begun, and either condition is perfect normal.

It sounds like you are wondering whether you have reached your full adult height. It’s impossible to say, but in trying to guess, other factors in your maturity are more telling than just your chronological age. Females often reach their full height 2-3 years after they begin to menstruate; males should consider whether or not their voice has changed. If you are truly concerned, ask your doctor. A physican assesses the stage of puberty using several criteria, including breast development for girls, penis and testicular growth for boys and pubic hair patterns for both sexes. This gives a better idea of how close puberty is to being through, and how likely it is that the adolescent growth spurt is over.

Height is determined by bone growth. Children’s bones growth plates; areas that have not entirely calcified and continue to grow. In females, the steroid hormone estrogen, which is produced by the ovary and increases during puberty, causes fusion of the growth plates, so growth stops when estrogen reaches adult levels, about 2-3 years after the first menstrual period. For males, the steroid hormone androgen (secreted by the testes; it also rises with puberty) at first stimulates bone growth (this is why males are usually taller than females by adulthood) but eventually also causes fusion of the growth plates. Teenage athletes who abuse steroids can actually wind up fusing their growth plates prematurely and end up shorter than they would have been! If a doctor is suspicious that growth is abnormal, the bones of the hands and legs can be X-rayed to see how much room is left in the growth plates. Such tests are neccessary only if a child is much taller or shorter than his or her peers, though.

Assuming no medical problem, such as a growth hormone deficiency, there is little you can do to affect your final adult height or how fast you reach it, other than eat a good diet and let nature take its course. In some cases, medical conditions can cause delayed puberty, but in these cases there is no sign of development at all (growth spurt, breast development or testicular growth) by age 15. Again, if this is a concern your should ask your doctor

I know Pete, I didn’t say you are wrong.

Posture will increase apparent height – not only in psychological terms for the observer, but measurably.
You can add an inch or so with a little practice, and look better , more healthy and confident, at the same time

WIthout environmental input , there will be ho height, no bones. So variance in adult height would be recognized as a difference caused by genetics, were such limiting environmental factors as food and routine medical care , to be removed from the situation ( by satisfying those demands )…as is the case in highly developed counties..where most variance in adult height would be due to difference in genetics.

The difference in genetics, though, might be producing a difference in hormone levels …doctors would be able to help perhaps.