[Ben Mugged]

Growth accelerators in our food chain? Chemicals in our water? Seems to me that 50 years ago girls did not enter puberty until their early teems.

[BenLurkin]

It’s due to global warming.

[omega4179]

When I was in 6th grade the girls got separated out for puberty class, so 12 apparently was the norm in the 70s.

[chris_bdba]

We have on cousin who started t 8 back in the early 1980’s and most all of us were early but back then early was between 10-12.I wonder if all of the birth control hormones they say is in our water is causing this?

[huldah1776]

I think they forgot non-fermented soy, which is used here, but fermented soy is used in asia.

[Beagle8U]

I read something a while back that said soy in the diet has a major effect.

[Psalm 144]

I thought that this was usually an earmark of primitive cultures. The short lifespans requiring earlier reproduction.

[GeronL]

Just keep the kids away from Japan and public school teachers and you’ve won half the battle.

[ConservativeMind]

Since early puberty restricts the potential for vertical growth, I would imagine we will start seeing a whole lot more mini-sized women in the next decade or two.

[TSgt]

Kennedy didn't hit boobs until much later in life...

[gundog]

Women and minorities hardest hit....

[historyrepeatz]

Or it could just be a couple generations of THIS crap.

[True_Kon]

I am not a bio-scientist and have no proof of my guess - but I think our media culture where kids are getting exposed to all forms of sexuality, both through media and even in the class rooms, is probably helping them mature sexually prematurely. Afterall, all growth is controlled by the amount of hormones, and chemicals generated inside the body, which is probably related to thoughts generated inside the mind.

[mikrofon]

What about the birth rates for girls by age for the various ethnic groups? As kids have kids earlier & earlier, perhaps the proclivity gets passed down now that the generational gap is shortened...

[TheThirdRuffian]

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.)

[fr_freak]

One in three children in the US are now obese or overweight, a rate that is rising despite efforts from Michelle Obama in the White House down to combat the epidemic.

The above is from the article, and it simply reinforces the knowledge that most journalists are completely ignorant of any sense of reality. The Obamas have only infested the White House for less than 2 years. Even if Michelle Obama really did have the secret, magical cure for childhood obesity, how does this idiot journalist think that her magical cure, short of a fairy wand which dispels all obesity with one wave, could possibly have such an effect in that time? The way the sentence is written, it is as if the author is going out of his way to assure the public that, if there is a problem, it is only despite all of the valiant efforts of the Obamas. There is absolutely no logical reason even to mention Michelle Obama in this context, but the delusional journalist feels compelled to absolve the Obamas anyway. Unbelievable.

[deport]

Obesity is the top of list as one of the possible causes...

[dalebert]

my doctor says its bc pills.

[ransomnote]

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.

[Perdogg]

The growth accelerators have been disproved. The cause is most likely obesity and better prenatal care.

[Don W]

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.