Early Puberty Causes

6.08.2012 | By: J.P.

More and more girls enter the puberty before their tenth birthday, but the early puberty causes are not completely clear yet.

Early puberty causes the development of breasts at the early age of nine.

Join us on Facebook!

Early puberty causes: The age difference

The age at the beginning of puberty has been declining for several years. In 19th century, boys entered the puberty at 17 years of age and girls at 15, but already in 1960 the average year for the beginning of puberty was 14 years for boys and 12 years for girls. Danish scientists conducted a research in 2006 in which 1000 girls participated. They discovered that the average age for girls to start developing breasts is only 9 years and 10 months - which is 1 year before than in a similar research conducted in 1991. The scientists believe that the same trend can be applied to other parts of Europe and the same findings were established by the US researches:

''It is very surprising and worrying that there were such major changes in only 15 years,'' said Dr. Anders Juul, the head of the Department of Growth and Reproduction, at the University Hospital in Copenhagen. ''Girls who sexually mature faster, face the problems of adolescence too early but they do not know how to handle them and they are more exposed to various diseases.'' Early puberty causes longer exposure to the estrogen hormone, which increases the possibility of breast cancer and heart disease.

Early puberty causes remain a mystery

The state is alarming and many scientists are trying to discover the root of the problem. ''The research shows that something is affecting our children, whether it is bad eating habits, chemicals from the environment or the lack of physical activity,'' said Juul. The most probable causes for early puberty are artificial chemicals in the environment, especially bisphenol A, which we find on the inner side of cans and baby bottles. The Danish research team is now examining the urine and blood samples from the girls who participated in the research. They are trying to establish the connection between early puberty causes and bisphenol A.

The second factor which is supposedly responsible for faster growth is a bad diet. Kids today eat more than the previous generations and a large part of their diet contains red meat. A recent study of the English scientists from the University of Brighton confirmed the connection between red meat and early puberty causes. Half of the girls who ate meat twelve times a week entered puberty before they were 12 years old. With girls who had meat only four times a week, there was only one third of such cases.

Early puberty causes big problems

In today's sexually oriented society, girls who reach puberty too early are exposed to mocking and sexual harassment. ''I had to start wearing a bra when I was nine and pretend I was ill to avoid physical education,'' said one girl who does not want be named. ''The worst thing that happened was that some men treated me as an adult when in reality I was only 11 years old.''