Study finds girls reaching puberty at age nine
        •        Study finds puberty age decreasing
        •        Obesity, meat consumption to blame
SCIENTISTS believe obesity, junk food and increased meat consumption could be responsible for a growing number of girls reaching puberty before the age of ten.
A study of 1000 girls conducted in Denmark showed that breast development started at an average of nine years and 10 months – a year earlier than a similar study conducted in 1991. The study backs data from America which has also shown the earlier onset of puberty.

“We were very surprised that there had been such a change,” Anders Juul, head of the Department of Growth and Reproduction at the University hospital in Copenhagen, a world leader in the study of hormones and growth told the Sunday Times.

“If girls mature early, they run into teenage problems at an early age and they’re more prone to diseases later on. We should be worried about this regardless of what we think the underlying reasons might be. It’s a clear sign that something is affecting our children, whether it’s junk food, environmental chemicals or lack of physical activity.”
Scientists believe the phenomenon could be linked to obesity or exposure to chemicals in the food chain. They warned that such young girls were ill-equipped to cope with sexual development when they are still at primary school and were at greater longterm risk of breast cancer.

A study published in the journal Public Health Nutrition last Friday showed a link between high meat consumption and earlier puberty in girls.

Researchers at Brighton University found 49 per cent of girls who ate meat 12 times a week at the age of seven reached puberty by the age of 12, compared with 35 per cent of those who ate meat four times a week or less.
 


 
Link here:
http://www.news.com.au/world/stu ... rfkyi-1225879291745