Scientists say watching TV hastens puberty [View All]

[papau]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/italy/story/0,12576,1248692,00.html

Scientists say watching TV hastens puberty

Study finds it is a matter of light and radiation

John Hooper in Rome
Monday June 28, 2004
The Guardian

Does watching television bring on early puberty? Many parents would not doubt that repeated exposure to Sex and the City or the kind of sensual variety shows common on Italian TV could as easily turn their daughters into Lolitas as stir up the latent testosterone in their sons.

But researchers from Florence University have come up with an alternative explanation: watching screens, regardless of the subject matter, helps to advance adolescence.

A study carried out last month in the Tuscan town of Cavriglia detected a huge increase in production of the hormone melatonin in children deprived of TV, computers and video.

Among the functions ascribed to melatonin is that of slowing down the progress of children to sexual maturity. <snip>