Article: Girls as Young as 7 Hitting Puberty: US Study

[Nikolita]

Taken from: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Health/20100809/young-girls-hitting-puberty-100809/


Females appear to be hitting puberty earlier, perhaps due to rising obesity rates and common chemicals found in plastic, a new study suggests.

Among 1,200 girls in the study, 15 per cent showed signs of breast development at age seven, which is between a year and four years earlier than what was considered usual.

The research, which was led by a team from Ohio, also suggests that puberty is arriving at increasingly younger ages.

Other key findings show that by the age of eight, 18 per cent of white girls and 42 per cent of black girls had developed breasts.

Those numbers suggest that girls at age seven or eight are twice as likely to have breasts as compared to girls a decade ago.

A 1997 study showed that only five per cent of white girls had breast development at age seven.

The new study, published on Monday, was printed in the medical journal Pediatrics, and it raises more concerns about how girls will deal with such developmental pressures.

Researcher Dr. Frank Biro said that partially developed bodies may push girls into behaviours they may not be emotionally and mentally ready for.

"Simply because one is physically more mature does not mean they are socially more mature or psychologically mature," he said.

Perhaps equally troubling are links between early sexual development and the risk of developing breast and endometrial cancers later in life. It appears that longer exposure to certain hormones exacerbates the risk of such cancers.

Unplanned pregnancies and exposure to sexually transmitted infections are also major concerns.

Other studies have shown that girls who develop earlier are also more likely to suffer through depression and self-esteem problems as they grow older.

While heavier girls seem to hit puberty earlier in life, the study suggests that environmental factors are also speeding up the process. Chemicals such as bisphenol A, which is commonly found in plastic, have been blamed for the early development.

Other compounds, like phthalates, appear to disrupt the normal work of hormones in the body.

Of interest is that in different U.S. cities, the onset of puberty appears to differ. In San Francisco, 11.6 per cent of seven-year-olds showed breast development.

By contrast, 18.9 per cent of seven-year-old girls in Cincinnati showed pubertal growth.  

[Intoxikace]

I wonder if at 7 they are actually having periods or if they just have breast development.. since that just says 'reach puberty' and talks about breasts..
A lot of overweight children look like they have breasts, but it is just fat. =/
Stop taking your children to Mc.Donalds and feed them a decent lunch and maybe they won't start growing breasts at such a young age. talk2hand  

[LorienLlewellyn]

Intoxikace

I wonder if at 7 they are actually having periods or if they just have breast development.. since that just says 'reach puberty' and talks about breasts..
A lot of overweight children look like they have breasts, but it is just fat. =/
Stop taking your children to Mc.Donalds and feed them a decent lunch and maybe they won't start growing breasts at such a young age. talk2hand

A lot of girls are growing breasts just because they are overweight. But some girls who are not overweight are growing breasts too. A few babies were even reported growing breasts after coming into contact with certain chemicals. And some of the young girls are getting periods too. There have been a few cases where girls under 10 got pregnant.

So parents should definitely limit or eliminate the junk food from their child's diet. But they should also limit their hormone and chemical exposure. That means limiting or eliminating meat and dairy (farm animals are often given hormones so they they grow faster or produce more milk; some studies suggest that those hormones may have an impact on our health, our breast size, when we go into puberty, etc.) It also means being careful with cleaning products (a lot are toxic), hair care products (the babies with breasts had been exposed to hair care products), pesticides (go organic when possible), and plastic (heating food in plastic may cause chemicals to leech into the food).  

[Intoxikace]

I hate seeing parents wiping everything down with lysol wipes and giving their children hand sanitizer constantly. =/
Those are CHEMICALS, and how else are they supposed to build up an immune system if you don't expose them to any germs.

I don't think a lot of parents understand how many chemicals they are exposing their children too.. they need to start reading labels and realize if there is stuff they can't pronounce it probably shouldn't go into their diet.
It's getting pretty awful now though; they have like tv dinners for toddlers... I wonder what's going to kill them faster the additives in the food, or the chemicals in the cheap plastic tray. rolleyes  

[Valgex]

I blame junk food  

[Nikolita]

If you can find it online, or see it on TV, the CBC documentary "The Disappearing Male" is a really good show. surprised 3nodding It looks at, among other things, how fewer male babies are being born in certain areas because of the mother's exposure to chemicals in her environment.  

[Valgex]

Nikolita

If you can find it online, or see it on TV, the CBC documentary "The Disappearing Male" is a really good show. surprised 3nodding It looks at, among other things, how fewer male babies are being born in certain areas because of the mother's exposure to chemicals in her environment.

Junk food included. razz  

[Nikolita]

Valgex

Nikolita

If you can find it online, or see it on TV, the CBC documentary "The Disappearing Male" is a really good show. surprised 3nodding It looks at, among other things, how fewer male babies are being born in certain areas because of the mother's exposure to chemicals in her environment.

Junk food included. razz

They might have mentioned junk food, I don't remember, but I primarily remember them talking about the exposure to chemicals in plastics - baby toys, children's toys, plastic bottles and containers, etc. BPA isn't a problem in Canada anymore because it's been banned, but it still exists in products in other countries I know.  

[Valgex]

Nikolita

Valgex

Nikolita

If you can find it online, or see it on TV, the CBC documentary "The Disappearing Male" is a really good show. surprised 3nodding It looks at, among other things, how fewer male babies are being born in certain areas because of the mother's exposure to chemicals in her environment.

Junk food included. razz

They might have mentioned junk food, I don't remember, but I primarily remember them talking about the exposure to chemicals in plastics - baby toys, children's toys, plastic bottles and containers, etc. BPA isn't a problem in Canada anymore because it's been banned, but it still exists in products in other countries I know.

Yeah, that and the Junk Food also helps accelerate Free Radicals(The aging particle that causes aging)