Experts have urged caution about a sugary vitamin pill that is gaining popularity among teenagers on social media for its supposed ability to increase height.
TruHeight supplements, which cost £33 and contain almost a teaspoon of sugar per serving, are said to help teenagers “grow taller” in thousands of TikTok videos.
In an enthusiastic statement, content creator Aaron Tomas told his 147,000 followers that He grew four inches in just three months after starting taking TruHeight vitamins.
Another young user of social networks, Omar Naturasked his fellow “short kings” who “need to be taller” to take Truheight, stating that the supplement is “magical” and “will help you grow taller.”
AND Damon Brownwho has 659,000 followers, listed gummies as one of the “four ways to get bigger,” in addition to being active, eating healthy, and getting enough sleep.
The gummies contain calcium, vitamin K, vitamin D, and the Asian shrub ashwagandha.
Advertisements for the brand, which sells sleep supplements and protein powders in addition to growth gummies, feature video testimonials from parents and teens who say the vitamins helped them grow.
One of the brand’s TikTok videos shares a ‘origin story’ of a boy named Liam, who is said to grow between 5 feet and 5 feet 8 inches in one year and four months thanks to TruHeight.
A TikTok video posted by Aaron Thomas (left) told his 147,000 followers that your height is “20 percent your choice and 80 percent genetics.” He claims he was “really short three months ago,” but after finding out about TruHeight vitamins he grew two to four inches. Damon Brown, who has 659,000 followers, listed gummies (right) as one of the “four ways to get bigger,” in addition to being active, eating healthy and getting enough sleep.
But speaking to MailOnline, experts had doubts about the supposed effects.
Dietitian and spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association, Aisling Pigott, warned that the marketing is “very misleading”.
She emphasizes that while there is evidence that supplementing vitamin D can support healthy bone growth, it will not help you grow beyond your “high potential,” which is “predetermined by our genetics.”
And at £33 per bottle, it’s also about six times the price of regular vitamin D supplements.
She told MailOnline: ‘Teenagers can put pressure on their parents to spend money on these vitamins and that is a waste.
‘Our height is predetermined by our genetics.
“A poor diet can prevent us from growing as much as we could have, but this supplement will not help remedy that.”
Pigott said supplements are not likely to be harmful unless excessive amounts are taken.
According to the NHS, 10 micrograms a day is enough to get the bone-strengthening benefits of vitamin D, but taking more than 100 micrograms a day could be harmful, actually weakening bones and damaging the kidneys and heart.
TruHeight Growth gummies contain 20 micrograms per two-gummy serving, so 10 gummies (or five servings of the recommended dosage) could go over the limit.
Social media user Dillon Latham (left) told his 1.6 million followers on TikTok that gummies “have the nutrients and things you need to help your bones grow.” In a video (right) from the supplement company advertising growth gummies, a teenager is seen lining up vitamins with the caption “we buy TruHeight, we take TruHeight and we grow.”
This isn’t the first time the supplement company has been called out for “misleading” advertising.
The TruHeight brand is owned by Vanilla Chip, a firm that has been involved in several lawsuits, including one presented in April 2024 that TruHeight allegedly made “false and misleading advertising claims” about growth in children.
The lawsuit stated: “Vanilla Chip advertises that regular consumption of its growth products caused toddlers, children, and adolescents to grow taller than they would without them.”
He added: ‘Growth products cannot deliver what they promise, a fact Vanilla Chip knows or should have known. Growth Products are unable to make children grow taller than they would on a normal diet.’
Although online videos suggest that the supplement will help children grow, the brand is careful not to explicitly claim this.
Instead, the company uses language like “support healthy growth and development” and “supports normal bone growth and function.”
The supplement brand also has a clinical trials section on its website that says TruHeight “puts our growth innovations to the test.”
It claims that after a six-month clinical pilot trial, children who took TruHeight daily had a “statistically significant increase in collagen X” compared to those who did not take the supplement.
According to TruHeight, collagen X is a “critical biomarker closely related to activity in the growth plates of developing bones.”
Ms Pigott warned that the supplement company is “treading a very fine line”.
She said: “They are sticking to the rules but allowing misinformation in the way it is presented.”
MailOnline has contacted TruHeight for comment.