'Precocious Puberty' Is on the Rise

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Kids these days are growing up too fast -- in more ways than one. American girls are reaching puberty up to a year earlier than in previous generations, with some children showing signs of sexual development as young as age 3. In extreme cases, girls are budding breasts before they’ve even learned to read.

Researchers call this phenomenon "precocious puberty," which some say is on the rise. Forty-eight percent of African-American girls and 15 percent of Caucasian girls show physical signs of puberty by age 8, according to a study of 17,000 U.S. girls published in Pediatrics in 1997. In a subsequent study of more than 2,000 boys, lead author Marcia Herman-Giddens found that 38 percent of African-American boys and 30 percent of Caucasian boys showed signs of sexual development by age 8.

What’s going on? Although scientists have yet to prove definitive causes, many suspect that hormone-mimicking chemicals, obesity and stress all contribute to precocious puberty. The chemicals, often called endocrine disruptors, are of particular concern because they’re everywhere -- in food, water, personal-care products, some plastics and many consumer goods.

Pediatrician Darshak Sanghavi notes in The New York Times that outbreaks of precocious puberty are most often traced to accidental exposure to drugs in hormone-laden products. He describes a case in which a kindergarten-age boy and his younger sister had both begun growing pubic hair. In addition, the boy was exhibiting aggressive behaviour.

When Sanghavi's colleagues examined the children, they discovered that both had extremely elevated levels of testosterone -- equivalent to those of an adult male -- and that their father was using a concentrated testosterone skin cream "for cosmetic and sexual purposes." The children had absorbed the testosterone from normal skin contact with their father.

It’s a problem that’s not likely to go away anytime soon. The New York Times notes that prescriptions for products containing testosterone are on the rise, doubling to more than 2.4 million between 2000 and 2004.

Of course, we can’t blame it all on testosterone. Phthalates, ubiquitous industrial plasticizers common in everything from personal-care products to vinyl and plastic packaging, mimic estrogen. So do compounds in some pesticides and flame retardants. A growing body of evidence suggests that these and other endocrine-disrupting chemicals can interfere with sexual development, an idea widely introduced in the groundbreaking book "Our Stolen Future" by Theo Colburn, Diane Dumanoski, and John Peterson Myers.

In the two decades since the book’s publication, evidence has mounted that substantiates its main thesis. The September, 2006 issue of Alternative Medicine points out that a number of human studies have found possible links between endocrine disruptors and early puberty. One study found that Puerto Rican girls whose breasts developed earlier were three times more likely to have elevated levels of phthalate esters in their blood. Another reported that girls who had been accidentally exposed in the womb to polybrominated biphenyls -- common flame retardants containing compounds that mimic estrogen -- began menstruating a year earlier than a control group.

Some researchers have linked precocious puberty with factors including obesity, stress, and a sedentary lifestyle. "In the animal industry, to hasten puberty, they keep the animals confined, they feed them really rich diets, and they grow really fast," Marcia Herman-Giddens notes in Alternative Medicine. "That is exactly what we are doing to our children."

As young children struggle to cope with changing bodies, the psychological trauma can lead to later problems including depression, substance abuse and teenage pregnancies, according to a number of studies. Meanwhile, parents wrestle with painful decisions such as whether or not to give their children injections of drugs like Lupron, an expensive medication that suppresses hormones and has some 26 possible side effects.

Dr. Paul Kaplowitz, chief of endocrinology at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and author of Early Puberty in Girls: The Essential Guide to Coping with this Common Problem, distinguishes between actual precocious puberty and more benign and isolated signs such as body odour, pubic-hair growth or breast development before recommending treatment, according to Alternative Medicine. He notes that less than 10 percent of the girls referred to him require treatment for early puberty.

Still, what’s happening now in children’s bodies affects their daily lives and their future health -- and may well foreshadow broader environmental and social crises.

What can you do?

Parents can take practical steps to minimize their children’s risk for early puberty and encourage healthy lifestyles. These are key steps according to Sherrill Sellman, author of "What Women Must Know to Protect Their Daughters from Breast Cancer":

Avoid meat, milk and dairy products containing growth hormones

Buy organic produce

Minimize soy, which mimics estrogen

Choose green household products

Encourage children to eat well and exercise

Prevent children from chewing on plastic toys

Avoid polyvinyl chloride (PVC) products, including vinyl shower curtains and toys and packaging that bear the number "3," indicating they’re made with PVC.

Schedule an appointment with a health-care practitioner, Sellman says, if your child shows unusually early signs of puberty. In addition, since phthalates are rarely included on cosmetics labels, visit sites like safecosmetics.org to find the safest personal-care products. Many of these small steps can help reduce your child’s exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals while cumulatively contributing to a healthier planet. And that bodes well for all children.

Kim Ridley is co-editor of "Signs of Hope: In Praise of Ordinary Heroes." She writes about people creating positive social change for Ode Magazine.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

How creepy !

[Heracles 417]

Kids these days are growing up too fast -- in more ways than one. American girls are reaching puberty up to a year earlier than in previous generations, with some children showing signs of sexual development as young as age 3. In extreme cases, girls are budding breasts before they’ve even learned to read.

...

Minimize soy, which mimics estrogen

Didn't you post an article which linked soy milk to males turning gay..

Actually now it makes sense, due to the increase in estrogen..

Edited January 7, 2007 by Infidel

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Kids these days are growing up too fast -- in more ways than one. American girls are reaching puberty up to a year earlier than in previous generations, with some children showing signs of sexual development as young as age 3. In extreme cases, girls are budding breasts before they’ve even learned to read.

...

Minimize soy, which mimics estrogen

Didn't you post an article which linked soy milk to males turning gay..

Actually now it makes sense, due to the increase in estrogen..

Yes, but you do know that us men - our bodies produce a certain amount of estrogen which is beneficial. It's a matter of keeping it in balance.

[Mags 112]

My son is nearly 13 and he started school over here in the USA last week. In the UK he was of average build, neither small or tall for his age.

He is BY FAR the smallest of his class over here in the USA. All the kids of the same age are much more progressed in growth than he is.

American kids seems to grow faster than their UK counterparts. There has to be a reason for this...perhaps it IS the growth hormones affecting the kids. I mean, the fact is my son looks like an average 10 year old in the USA, yet the equivalent in the UK is age 13.

I mean, I am sure growth hormones are used in UK milk and dairy products also but maybe at lower levels?

Edited January 7, 2007 by mags

[Aymerlu 3]

What the FDA says is OK for the foods in the U.S is going to kill us all. Sometimes I think all of us in the U.S are the goverments science projects. Think of the increase in cancers, infertility, autism, precocious puberty, just to name a few. It's scary. I was amazed when I was in Egypt and saw kids that were 13-15 years old that looked like kids and not men. After seeing that it made me beleive even more the foods in the U.S are killing us. Now I try to do as much organic as possible.

[Heracles 417]

Yes, but you do know that us men - our bodies produce a certain amount of estrogen which is beneficial. It's a matter of keeping it in balance.

There will obviously be changes when the level of estrogen in a male is greatly increased. Vice versa what happens to girls if their level of testosterone is greatly increased..

[one...two...tree 2,762]

My son is nearly 13 and he started school over here in the USA last week. In the UK he was of average build, neither small or tall for his age.

He is BY FAR the smallest of his class over here in the USA. All the kids of the same age are much more progressed in growth than he is.

American kids seems to grow faster than their UK counterparts. There has to be a reason for this...perhaps it IS the growth hormones affecting the kids. I mean, the fact is my son looks like an average 10 year old in the USA, yet the equivalent in the UK is age 13.

I mean, I am sure growth hormones are used in UK milk and dairy products also but maybe at lower levels?

Sian,

In case you haven't been made aware, you'll have to look closely at the label on milk products here in the states - some dairies use the bovine growth hormone. Here in California, the dairies cannot use it by law, however, the stores can legally import dairy products from other states that use the hormone (nice, huh?). I can tell the taste difference in the milk - could be other things they feed the cows, anti-biotics, etc. If there's a Trader Joe's nearby, I'd recommend shopping there - they have an excellent selection of organic products and their prices are low. Our FDA is weak, but consumer demand is getting more healthier products on the market. You just have to really be careful, read the labels and become informed.