IVF can make children taller, say scientists

A New Zealand-based study has revealed that IVF (in vitro-fertilisation) can produce taller children.

Scientists have found that children conceived using in-vitro fertilisation technique were several centimetres taller, by age 6, when compared with naturally conceived peers.

The height advantage, however, was not seen in children born as a result of IVF on frozen embryos.

"We don't know the reasons for the height difference," New Zealand Herald quoted Dr Mark Green, a research fellow at the Liggins Institute, as saying.

"But [the research] suggested that it might have something to do with the hormones that are given to the mother to stimulate the ovary in fresh embryo transfer," he added.

Children from fresh embryos, particularly the girls, were found to be approximately 2.6cm taller than their peers.