Tuesday, August 10, 2010
A new study published in the journal Pediatrics is again raising the question: Why are girls reaching puberty at a younger age?
Following up on research published in 1997 that showed similar results, the new study revealed more girls age seven and eight are developing breasts at an earlier stage in their development.
Almost 25% of African American girls who participated in the study began developing breasts by the time they were seven years old. The rate for Latina girls was 15% and for white girls 10%.
By age eight, 42.9% of blacks, 30.9% of Latinas and 18.3% of whites showed signs of breast development.
One explanation for the change in female development centers on growing rates of obesity, since body fat can produce sex hormones. Another cause may have to do with environmental chemicals that mimic the effects of estrogen which may encourage puberty to begin sooner.
The lead author of the study, Dr. Frank M. Biro, the director of adolescent medicine at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, suggested that parents avoid using on their children lotions, shampoos and other products that contain phthalates, a known endocrine disrupter.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
First Signs of Puberty Seen in Younger Girls (by Denise Grady, New York Times)
Some Girls' Puberty Age Still Falling, Study Suggests (by Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times)
Pubertal Assessment Method and Baseline Characteristics in a Mixed Longitudinal Study of Girls (by Frank M. Biro, Maida P. Galvez, Louise C. Greenspan, Paul A. Succop, Nita Vangeepuram, Susan M. Pinney, Susan Teitelbaum, Gayle C. Windham, Lawrence H. Kushi and Mary S. Wolff, Pediatrics)
Comments