15% of American girls hitting puberty by age 7; doctors unsure why change is coming sooner

[Newsjock]

Source: Reno Gazette Journal

The following comes from a USA Today story that focuses on a specific girl who has been undergoing lots of treatments to slow her puberty. ... These are highlights of the story's statistics and other data:

... Girls are maturing faster than ever and, for reasons doctors don't completely understand, hitting puberty younger than any generation in history.

About 15% of American girls now begin puberty by age 7, according to a study of 1,239 girls published last year in Pediatrics. One in 10 white girls begin developing breasts by that age — twice the rate seen in a 1997 study. Among black girls ... 23% hit puberty by age 7.

"Over the last 30 years, we've shortened the childhood of girls by about a year and a half," says Sandra Steingraber, author of a 2007 report on early puberty for the Breast Cancer Fund, an advocacy group. "That's not good."

Read more: http://www.rgj.com/section/blogs12?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&U=8a686c58-d08c-47e8-8216-d67b1e581e99&plckPostId=Blog:8a686c58-d08c-47e8-8216-d67b1e581e99Post:2b492d9c-04d1-4826-a982-4b343c82beeb&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest

[aquart]

1. That is definitely not good.

[howaboutme]

2. This is a dream for Hollywood

They thrive on sexuality and those that dream of sexuality first, and critical thinking and education for the masses last.

[Liberal Veteran]

3. Estrogen in our drinking water, perchance?

[spooky3]

8. the article says obesity is the clearest influence but that other factors

may also be at play.


"• Obesity. The clearest influence on the age of puberty seems to be obesity, Steingraber says. In general, obese girls are much more likely to develop early than thin ones. And the number of heavy girls is growing, with 30% of children overweight or obese, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says."

[anneboleyn]

30. Yet almost none of us, not even the "obese" girls, got our periods until 13ish back then.

At least in those days (this was the early 1980s). I wonder about the enormous amounts of hormones in food, since there has been a dramatic shift in terms of when girls are getting their periods and developing breasts and even though obesity is being blamed for everything these days it seems like there is something else going on to make girls start puberty at age seven.

[safeinOhio]

33. Soybeans phytoestrogens.

[wickerwoman]

50. Doesn't seem likely to me.

Asian girls have been eating massive amounts of soybeans for thousands of years without the age of puberty going down.

My money would be on birth control hormones leaking into groundwater from the sewage system or else hormones given to cows to make them produce more milk.

[xmas74]

45. I was eleven

in the mid eighties but early ran in my family so that wasn't so uncommon. I wasn't overweight-at that time I could have used a couple of pounds extra.

What really scared me was when my daughter was in the first grade and a little girl in her class had her first period. I swear that it's the diet and environmental factors.

[HipChick]

46. I hit puberty at 9 and skinny as a rake

I was teased for being so thin...

by 11.all my aspirations of being the next Nadia Comneci died with the emergence of a C size chest a few years later

[SoCalDem]

57. Chemicals/hormones in foods

changing the delicate balance of things, and I also saw a psychologist who said that the visualization on tv of so much "sexy" stuff is planting the seeds of curiosity into younger & younger brains and stimulating them beyond their years...

In days gone by, kids on farms knew what sex was about, because they saw the farm animals, but since they were usually isolated from other kids except for their siblings, their sexual "awakening" was later..and of course the girls were married off in their teens before they could get into mischief..

I still remember my aunt telling me how she got her first period when she was almost 15, and of course no one had told her anything about it, so she thought she was dying.. and she married at 17½.. The sexes were kept separate a lot of the time, with boys working with their fathers & uncles & the girls working in the house with Mom..School was pretty hit and miss for many kids..(my mother in law had a 6th grade education, and then taught school:)

[Hannah Bell]

58. i got my period at 12 in the 60s. and wasn't fat.

[Quantess]

62. So?

12 is a very normal age for that. Am I missing something?

[Esurientes]

77. DES, maybe, with older women.

I started my period at age 8 (in 1961) and believe I am a DES daughter. (Mom had 3 miscarriages before she got pregnant with me, her first child, and told me, "the doctor prescribed something so I wouldn't miscarry".)

I still remember with gratitude the elementary school gym teacher who helped me through the shock, because of course I hadn't been told to expect it.

[dkf]

67. You would assume an obese girl consumed more crap injected food than a non obese one.

[skirt6]

17. Funny you should say that...

There have been smaller studies and a few "conspiracy theories" that state that there IS estrogen in your drinking water. In most areas, the water that comes out of your tap is recycled... waste water from somewhere else that has been filtered, treated, and purified. They only problem is, the treatments are meant for bacteria/solid wastes only. In the past few decades, women have been taking estrogen in the form of birth control. Since excess hormone will be released in urine... well, I'm sure you can connect the dots there.

We also have hormones in grocery products we buy everyday. Science is necessary to provide enough foodstuffs to go around for a world population nearing 7 billion people, but there are side-effects. I feel bad for those girls- I have a daughter who is nearly 6. Scary to think that something as simple as a glass of water can cause her more problems than good...

[Brickbat]

4. I remember my doctor positing that it was growth hormone in milk..

[eowyn_of_rohan]

18. that makes a lot of sense.

We have one brand of milk here in Madison WI, that I am aware of, that claims to be BGH free- Dean Dairy. The farmers that they buy milk from pledge that it is anyway. It costs a little more but is all we buy.

[Brickbat]

22. Almost all of the milk I can get here in NE MN is supposed to be rBGH free -- Land O'Lakes,

Arrowhead, and Kemps.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

25. The grocery store near me only has 2 kinds - Dean and Roundy's

We don't get the other brands down here - in milk anyway - cheese and butter, yes. Sheesh what is wrong with our state...

[xmas74]

49. Hiland here in Missouri claims the same thing.

It's the only milk I'll buy my daughter, besides the occasional raw milk from a local organic farmer/rancher.


I grew up on Dean. Glad to see it's still around.

[alterfurz]

61. give local creamery Sassy Cow a try?

http://www.sassycowcreamery.com/Content/Milk.htm
more expensive, but better tasting IMO--and their ice cream is fantastic!

[Veruca Salt]

78. Here in ME I get Smiling Hill Farm milk and it is by far the most delicious

milk I have ever had. They put right on their bottles that no pesticides, chemical fertilizers or hormones are used on their farm.

And same thing with the cost, also the dollar bottle deposit as it comes in a glass bottle. Worth it though.

[laundry_queen]

26. I wonder...

I'm in Canada where they don't use the hormone. I wonder what the comparisons with the 2 countries would be?

Anyhow, I think it is probably a combination of things - hormones in milk, obesity, chemicals that mimick hormones etc

I have 4 daughters and so far, the older 2 are not as developed as I was when I was their age. The only difference (same diet, approx same weight/height): they were born/raised in a remote area and I was born/raised in the city. Makes me wonder more about air pollution, too.

[jillan]

39. That's what my daughter's pediatrician told me. It wasn't that she hit puberty that early - it's how

shapely she is! He was saying that alot of girls were developing earlier and more fully because of the hormones in milk.

[jpak]

76. Lots of dairies produce homone-free milk - but Monsanto takes them to court over it

in some cases the dairies won - in others they had to put disclaimers on their milk packaging saying "artificial growth hormones won't hurt you" - or words to that effect

[malaise]

5. Maybe just maybe our diet is full of drugs

that really aren't for human consumption

[niyad]

6. couldn't possibly have anything to do with all the additives, hormones and other assorted crap in

our food and water???

I seem to remember, from many years ago, a story about girls in puerto rico reaching puberty very early, and it was traced to the chicken feed. think it was in life (yes, that long ago) or time.

[Zephie]

7. 7? Really? I can't imagine having the puberty talks at so young an age

Good god, I don't know what to think of this. I didn't hit puberty until I was about 11! At the risk of starting a flame war, I wonder if it might have had to do with the fact that I almost exclusively drank rice and almond milk in my childhood, and not cows milk?

[Brickbat]

12. I didn't until 13, and I drank exclusively cow's milk.

[Zephie]

14. I'm wondering when you drank it?

Ugh, such a touchy subject, I'm afraid to ask (this is absolutely not an argument attempt), when were you drinking it? I was a child of the 90s, and I'm wondering how much of a change the hormone levels have had over time?

[gkhouston]

69. Perhaps not much. I've got a daughter, 40 years younger than myself, who

had her first period about five months sooner than I did. She drinks as much milk as I used to, if not more.

[Control-Z]

28. I honestly doubt that cow's milk

would be the cause. The increase in hormones (found in cow's milk) seems more likely.

[Zephie]

29. Yes, that was what I was attempting to convey

Apologies for not making that clearer. :hi:

[Control-Z]

38. No problem.

:hi: I just started thinking about all the milk I drank as a child and couldn't imagine it. The hormones, though, are definitely a concern, for a number of reasons.

[GodlessBiker]

9. Hormones in beef?

[cbdo2007]

11. Hormones in EVERYTHING.

Beef, milk, etc.

[seabeyond]

16. big issue a handful of yrs ago and they attributed it to the hormones in chickens. nt

[animato]

32. Too bad that organic chicken is expensive nt

[rucky]

66. and the milk.

[Starry Messenger]

10. It's part of our plan of world takeover.

[Canuckistanian]

13. Chemicals. Lots and lots of harmful chemicals.

And for all we know about the effects of artificial chemicals on human tissue, Drano could be the reason for early maturity in females.

[Taverner]

15. It seems pretty simple to me: hormones

Our food supply, especially our meat supply, is full of hormones like no other time in history

Once we eliminate the hormones in meat, or stop eating meat - it will go back to normal

[shanti]

43. yes

the food supply, but especially in our water.

[Taverner]

72. I'm more concerned about the food supply

Yes, there's a lot of crap in our water, but a lot of that gets filtered out by Dasani, Crystal Springs, Brita, etc

In food there is no way to get rid of it - and it keeps building. So when you eat a steak, you aren't just getting the hormones the cow ate right before being killed, but all the hormones they ate while growing up, and in their mother's milk. All of these hormones are growth hormones at that, so our kids are getting high concentrations of the stuff.

[animato]

19. BHA is an endocrine disorder in cans etc. nt

[Holly_Hobby]

24. Plastics are hormone disruptors n/t

[animato]

31. Are there other ones that we often consume?

I'm beginning to lose my appetite! It's hard to avoid cans.

[Holly_Hobby]

73. No plastics should be involved in cooking, eating or storage

of food. I use glass. I buy 30 year old glass pots pans from Ebay made by Corning called Visions Cookware.

Yes, glass is heavy and breakable, but easy to clean and doesn't leech into food no matter the temperature.

[uponit7771]

20. Horemones in hair products!!!!

[ecstatic]

21. our food supply nt

[LynneSin]

23. Simple - growth hormone in common food products like Milk, beef & chicken

you don't think that might have an impact on our children?

If I had kids I would find a way to get organics for them

[FSogol]

27. Weight gain. Americans are heavier than ever. n/t

[Ilsa]

34. I see alot of chunky girls with periods starting in 4-5th grade. I think the

extra fat in the body spurs on the hormones.

Try explaining all the stuff about "periods" when they have barely learned what a calendar represents.

[anneboleyn]

35. Maybe, but I commented above that "obese" girls were still getting their periods later

in those days (early 80s). None of the girls I knew were starting their periods at age seven, no matter how big they were. I really think there is an issue with hormones in food.

[kickysnana]

36. I blame soy milk and "Toddlers and Tiaras"

But then I am old.

[FirstLight]

37. It's gotta be the water supply or the pthalates in everything plastic

Think about it, from babyhood, the pthalates are there in the bottles, right?
and water, with lots of estrogen from birth control is also coming out of our taps... buy bottled water? well then you're back to pthalates...

my daughter was born in 2002, she just turned 9, third grade
she is already developing breast buds and has body odor
her weight is normal, very slightly above average...
her hips and little belly curves came on fast just this school year
she may well have a period by next year...eeek!


we are a very organic family, meat, eggs, milk, etc.. i am even one of those anti-vaxers
exposure to plastics and water pollution are the only things i can think of

[Lydia Leftcoast]

47. Yes, in the old days, baby bottles were made of GLASS

not plastic.

[diane in sf]

40. So they can reproduce before the radiation gets them??? (satire!)

[Hugabear]

41. This man doesn't see a problem with that

[Manifestor_of_Light]

42. He's a jerk.

[Hugabear]

44. Not just a jerk, but an admitted pedophile

n/t

[GReedDiamond]

52. And, a really mediocre guitarist...

...who writes extremely shitty songs.

[Duer 157099]

48. Vitamin D deficiency

Just throwing my hat in the ring

[gateley]

51. A woman I worked with said her FOUR YEAR OLD DAUGHTER was getting

pubic hair! Her pediatrician attributed it to hormones in the milk and beef. We just can't let things be the way nature intended, even though it's done just perfectly without our interference all these eons. :grr:

[Forkboy]

53. Fuckin' Chavez!

[Raine]

54. This is awful, probably from all the chemicals

in the food. :puke:

[Bonobo]

55. I personally blame "Japanese" radiation. nt

[mfcorey1]

56. Steroids in fast food is one of the major causes. nt

[XemaSab]

59. To throw another curve in, if it's doing that to the girls

then what's it doing to the boys? :(

[seabeyond]

64. having two sons, i was wondering the same. not seeing early puberty for either of them

or any of their friends per the outward evidence.

[Agony]

60. Defund the EPA! That'll fix the problem!

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Endocrine Disruptor Screening and Testing Advisory Committee -- to design a program to prioritize the over 86,000 chemicals in current use and screen them for effects on estrogen, androgen, and thyroid hormone.

Suspected endocrine disrupting chemicals are found in insecticides, herbicides, fumigants, and fungicides that are used in agriculture as well as in the home. Other endocrine disruptors are found in industrial chemicals such as detergents, resins, plasticizers, and monomers in many plastics. Exposure to these chemicals occurs through direct contact in the workplace or at home, or through ingestion of contaminated water, food, or air. Studies have found that some of these chemicals do leach out of plastics, such as the PVC plastics used to make IV bags. When these plastics, or other materials, are burned (as well as in their production) many unwanted byproducts that are endocrine disruptors or suspected endocrine disruptors are released into the air or water.


Maybe 15% of American households regularly use insecticides inside the house? do you? 86,001 possible ways to fuck up your hormones....

Endocrine Disruption read the whole thing here---->http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/bendrep.asp

[DCBob]

63. This has been a trend for quite sometime. It must be environmental and/or food related.

One article I read awhile back made a correlation to plastics.

[seabeyond]

65. and yet, the few men i have heard say.... once girl hits puberty, free game

i would think of 10 yrs old. that is the number of early puberty i had heard in past. and when asked 10 yrs old? i would not getting any repulsion from the men. now i guess, that number will be 7, when i hear a man makes that statement

creepy

[undeterred]

68. ok if milk affects female puberty, why not male puberty, menopause, and lots of other things?

If there is enough growth hormone or estrogen in store bought milk to affect little girls puberty, wouldn't the biological effects be seen on other people also?

[a la izquierda]

70. My mom got hers early...

and my sisters, both younger than I, got theirs early too. I didn't get mine til 14. My mom blamed it on genetics and me being an athlete (and thus a twiggy little thing).

[AmandaRuth]

71. as others have pointed out

it is the growth hormones put in everything, along with the estrogen in the water.

[alcibiades_mystery]

74. Doctor checked my daughter for pubic hair growth...

On her visit for her FIFTH birthday.

What the skippy?

[jpak]

75. BPA and its effect on leptin which influences the onset of puberty in girls

my $0.02

[inna]

79. weak environmental regulations. policies favoring corporations instead of humans.

[aikoaiko]

80. According to one of my textbooks on human sexuality, this trend has been happening for a long time.

And body weight/fat% is the best explanation.