Posted on 01/30/2002 10:46:32 AM PST by TopQuark
| Puberty Hitting Girls At Younger Age |
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Christine Miles, KOIN 6 News |
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PORTLAND -- If you think kids are growing up too fast these days, you may be right. Girls are hitting puberty at an earlier age, and scientists say it may be a sign of other health problems. Researchers at Oregon Health and Science University's Primate Research Center are trying to figure out why some girls as young as 4 or 5 are entering puberty. They say genetics plays a role, but they've also discovered that environmental factors, like certain plastics, could trigger early puberty. If you think young girls are growing up too fast and looking more mature than their age, it's not just the trendy clothes or makeup that they wear. Their bodies are changing -- entering puberty way before their parent's did. "Parents are having to learn to rethink what they think is normal," Daniel Mark of OHSU explains. Over the last century, the average age for girls entering puberty was age 13. But today, research shows that it's much younger. For Caucasian girls, the first signs of puberty come at age 7 or 8. For African-American girls, it's a little younger, between the ages of 6-8. At the Primate Center, researchers say genetics and environmental factors play a role in the early onset of puberty. For the last 30 years, Dr. Sergio Ojeda has been studying pre-mature puberty. He has a documented case of a girl, just 18 months old, fully developed, and a baby, not even a year old, menstruating. "She was menstruating at 7 months, and by 9 months, she was menstruating regularly," Ojeda says. Puberty is a function driven by the brain. The hypothalamus is an area at the base of the brain responsible for awakening part of the body to the process of puberty. Researchers believe that everyday environmental toxins trigger signals to the brain to begin puberty before the body is ready. "Chemicals that are used to make plastic that you see everyday -- plastic of soft drinks, the plastic that makes containers for milk, for baby formula," Ojeda says. Ojeda says that plastic toxins mimic hormones like estrogen, which play a key role in stimulating the brain. But if the body starts developing too early, it could be a warning sign for parents. "A 4-year-old having breast budding has a much high risk having something pathological going on like a CNS tumor or a cystic or a problem with their ovary." Those cases are rare, Marks says that parents need to be aware of possible problems their children could be facing so they can get treatment. "Medication is the treatment. And it's not a benign therapy, but it's an effective therapy once a monthly injections of a hormone," Marks says. Researchers hope to track down an exact cause in premature puberty, in hopes of slowing down the development process, so kids can enjoy being kids. Boys are also entering puberty earlier, but not as quickly as girls. Researchers also say that childhood obesity is also a trigger for premature puberty. |
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Posted: January 28, 2002 |
| All Material Copyright 2001, Emmis Television LP or by original content developer |
I don't buy it either. I was 9 when my menses began and that was 35 years ago. My daughter is just shy of 12 and nothing is happening...thank God. :o)
I did my graduate work in endocrinology. In my coursework and research, the topic of animal hormonal supplements was discussed or written about repeatedly. Never has one bit of evidence supporting a supplement, like bovine growth hormone, being present or having an effect in a human.
There are too many barriers. When given to an animal, the hormone is metabolized. Even if killed immediately after a dosage, the hormones begin to degrade within minutes of death. Cooking the meat further denaturizes the hormone. Finally, very few hormones have an effect outside of their own species. Porcine insulin is one of the exeptions and it has a limited effect in a limited population .
3. Health is getting better. Earlier in the last century there were a lot of desease and parasites that we don't even think about today. A lot of kids that got sick never saw a doctor so statistics are incomplete.
3. The population is less rural. There were more parasites and diseases out on the farm.Then there was the energy robbing work.
I remember in high school how we complained that we only had two guys on the team more than 200 pounds and now days more than a dozen top the two century mark while the population of that school is only about 20% more that it was in the '60's. Kids just mature faster because of a supportive enviroment, not because of a stimulated enviroment.
If it's genetic then why would the reproductive clock start before the female body is capable of delivering a child.
Is the birth canal large enough on a 9 or 10 year old to handle birth?
Maybe this somehow ties in with the increase in ovarian, prostate and breast cancer.
Just a thought...
Or, as many sited here, it could be an issue of nutrition. If plants and animals all develop quicker when better nourished, why should kids not do the same?
Me, I think it is mostly just hand-wrining, and that in reality nothing has changed.
Notice that nowhere does the article talk about the estrogen contributed by soy. Soy advocates will tell you it's "insignificant", but it certainly has to be as big a factor as plastic containers -- especially considering that soy is now used a a filler in most processed food, and that life in the years since "Women's Lib" has had mothers focus on their careers instead of their families, and turning to a full diet of soy-based formulae for their babies.
I remember reading somewhere several years ago that the youngest girl to give birth was a 9 year old from Africa.
Enough posters have refuted that by citing studies over a 50 year period that the onset of menses has remained constant. Besides, 24 extra PMS episodes per girl would show up in the crime statistics.
Girls in tropical climates have historically always started earlier for some reason
I remember in the late 50's or early 60's, Swedish girls were supposed to be reaching puberty earlier than even their parents did because of electricity. (No kidding. Electric lights gave a better balance to their lives, or something.)
"Honest, officer, I didn't know she was only 7. She looked at least 11 to me." Thus spake Mohammad.
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