Posted on 08/09/2010 11:26:00 AM PDT by Ben Mugged
A US study shows that almost one in four black girls and one in 10 white girls had developed breasts by the age of seven.
The findings are the latest in a string of studies showing that girls in the US are reaching puberty sooner, with implications both for the social and emotional wellbeing of girls as well as for their physical health in later life. Early maturation has been shown to cause low self-esteem and doubts about body image, as well as greater rates of eating problems, depression and attempted suicide.
It is linked to earlier sexual experiences, and later on carries greater risks of breast cancer.
The researchers found that at the age of seven 23.4% of black girls, 14.9% of Hispanics and 10.4% of white girls had developed breasts.
At 8 those proportions had risen further to 42.9%, 30.9% and 18.3% respectively.
A similar survey completed in 1997 found the proportion of white girls who had developed breasts by seven was 5% — half of what it is today.
The proportion of black girls in that bracket has also shot up in the past decade, from 15% in 1997 to 23% today.
Studies have shown that in the 1700s girls began menstruation on average at about age 17-18, though that might be as much to do with widespread malnutrition as with other factors.
Experts point to several possible causes of the declining age of puberty.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Am over with Teddy Bare. Forgettabout him, he’s finally sober!
And thrilling classes those were, I’ll have you know. NOT. Movies from the fifties, I swear. I remember there were only like 2 girls in the whole 6th grade who had started - at least who admitted to it anyway (yep, they asked back then, and no one sued).
Being fat is 80% of it.
Genetics is 20%.
Blacks and Hispanics just mature earlier and die earlier.
(And, yes, I just made up the 80/20 ratio on a hunch.)
My daughter is nine and getting ready to enter fourth grade; one of her classmates started her period in March, and several of her classmates have started developing breasts.
Obesity is the top of list as one of the possible causes...
“...which is probably related to thoughts generated inside the mind.”
Interesting. I have identical twin girls that will be 13 this fall. One is into clothing, nail polish, trying different haircuts, etc. She started getting her period about 6 months ago. The other is not really a tom-boy, but could care less about the girly stuff. We are still waiting for her to get her period. And luckily neither one is all boy-crazy like so many of their classmates.
my doctor says its bc pills.
Precocious Puberty: eMedicine Pediatrics: General Medicine
by PB Kaplowitz - Cited by 2 - Related articles
29 Mar 2010 ... Body fat. An increased body mass index (BMI) has been associated with early puberty.14 In some studies the association is stronger in white ...
emedicine.medscape.com › ... › Endocrinology - Cached - Similar
Blame Bush.. or Madonna.
I think there’s a joke in there. Hehehe.
This is very anecdotal but we had a girl in 4th grade w hairy armpits lol
I read the book ‘The Whole Soy Story’ (http://www.amazon.com/Whole-Soy-Story-Americas-Favorite/dp/0967089751/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1281378853&sr=8-1)
awhile ago and it makes the case for the use of soy in our society causing hormonal issues. It is an advocacy piece - not an objective review, in my opinion, but it is heavily referenced with specific medical studies routinely cited to stress that feeding infants soy formula caused such hormonal/metabolic side effects that soy infant formula was pulled off the market. The book makes the case that soy is in so many of the foods we eat now as it is presented as a health food and has edged out wheat’s location in the food pyramind. After reading page upon page of medically oriented analysis I began to look for soy on food labels and it really is everywhere. For example, carageenan used to be obtained from seaweed and used in ice cream, among other places. Ice cream still lists carageenan on the label but now the source is soy. Comparisons are made to Asian cultures to demonstrate that Asian cultures used fermenented soy in small amounts as a condiment as opposed to our society using nonfermented soy and byproducts in large amounts. I recently bought a mayonaise that bragged that it was made with olive oil. And it was - in part. The second ingredient on the label was soybean oil. And as soybean oil is in so many baked foods, condiments and well...seemingly everything - it’s worth noting that soybean oil goes rancid so quickly on the shelf that we can kind of assume it’s rancid in the foods we buy. The hromonal indications for soy use were many - and one thyroid physician was quoted as saying that an 8oz glass of soy milk can (not ‘does’ but ‘can’) stop thyroid functioning in an adult woman for 24 hours. As I said, the book is certainly advocacy as opposed to disinterested study but then again, in my opinion, it is well sourced. So I believe soy and hormones in our food chain (including those leeched into foods from plastics lining cans and water supplies etc.) are really causing problems for us.
The growth accelerators have been disproved. The cause is most likely obesity and better prenatal care.
But not nearly as horrified as when Mom asked Dad that following year if she should sign the permission slip for me to see the very film! And when Dad answered "Well she needs to know about it - OMG at that age I wanted to hide in my room for the rest of my life because my Dad knew about it. LOL
(sigh) innocence and modesty... I look at the kids today and am sad that so many have lost it so early in life.
Yep. Body weight is closely linked to sexual maturity.
When reading this article, it appears that the highly processed foods preferred by/afforded to certain sectors of the populace may have an unforeseen side effect: early onset of puberty, or at least early breast development.
That said, I personally know at least two women who experienced menarche at the age of 9 in the 1950’s, so I don’t know how accurate the statistics used by this study are.
My daughter is 9 and I can’t imagine her mom having to explain why she is bleeding from her vagina.
Thanks for sharing! Very intersting!
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