Why are children reaching puberty earlier?

**lucifers angel** · 09-12-07, 10:11 AM

Why are more and more children reaching puberty at a younger age according to some pages more and more boys at the age of 8 at reaching puberty, and it is age 11 for some girls.

i want to know three things.

1. why is it happening?
2. what is the emotional effect on the child to be going through somthing so young?
3. and is there a tablet a child can take to stop puberty to young?

**Orleander** · 09-12-07, 10:15 AM

My Aunt got her period when she was in 4th grade (9 yrs old, 1955), so I'm not sure if they are or they are just keeping better track of it.

**lucifers angel** · 09-12-07, 10:17 AM

Originally Posted by Orleander

My Aunt got her period when she was in 4th grade (9 yrs old, 1955), so I'm not sure if they are or they are just keeping better track of it.

i know a young girl who was 9yrs aswell

**Enmos** · 09-12-07, 10:19 AM

I heard somewhere that it's because of hormones in meat. They gives cows etc. extra growth hormones.

**lucifers angel** · 09-12-07, 10:20 AM

Originally Posted by Enmos

I heard somewhere that it's because of hormones in meat. They gives cows etc. extra growth hormones.

one web site i went to said that it was also down the lack of excersise

**Enmos** · 09-12-07, 10:22 AM

Originally Posted by lucifers angel

one web site i went to said that it was also down the lack of excersise

Hmm how would that work ? Did they mention the mechanisms involved ?

**lucifers angel** · 09-12-07, 10:27 AM

Originally Posted by Enmos

Hmm how would that work ? Did they mention the mechanisms involved ?

What causes early puberty?
Possible reasons for early puberty are:

better nutrition, which leads to greater body mass and more body fat, which can start puberty
lack of exercise (in very active children, such as gymnasts, puberty starts later, so inactivity may start puberty earlier)
stress (girls whose parents divorce, for instance, may start puberty earlier)
chemicals in food (chemicals in food, and chemicals fed to chickens to get them to grow quicker, have caused early puberty in girls).

i dont know if that is true but thats where i got it from

**Looney** · 09-12-07, 01:51 PM

Originally Posted by lucifers angel

boys at the age of 8 at reaching puberty, and it is age 11 for some girls.

It's the other way around actually. Girls have always reached puberty earlier than boys.
I think it has a lot to do with hormones in meat but also things in our environment such as fertilizers which mimic the effects of estrogen in our bodies.That coupled with the fact that kids are getting fatter from less exercise. So it is a combination of factors. It is also heredity which determines when a child will reach puberty. My grandmother, mother and I got our periods when we were between 11-12. My sister at 10 1/2 her daughter at 10 1/2. None of us overweight all slim and petite. But I think the reason that the average age for females reaching puberty is lower is due to environmental estrogen overload.
Are boys also reaching puberty significantly earlier than previous generations?

**superstring01** · 09-12-07, 02:03 PM

Originally Posted by Enmos

I heard somewhere that it's because of hormones in meat. They gives cows etc. extra growth hormones.

If that were true, then the European's would be reaching puberty later than Americans. They don't put hormones in their beef.

It's our nutrition, immunization (kids get sicker less), and general lifestyles which allow the body to develop quicker at a younger age than in eons past.

~String

**lucifers angel** · 09-12-07, 02:47 PM

Originally Posted by Looney

It's the other way around actually. Girls have always reached puberty earlier than boys.
I think it has a lot to do with hormones in meat but also things in our environment such as fertilizers which mimic the effects of estrogen in our bodies.That coupled with the fact that kids are getting fatter from less exercise. So it is a combination of factors. It is also heredity which determines when a child will reach puberty. My grandmother, mother and I got our periods when we were between 11-12. My sister at 10 1/2 her daughter at 10 1/2. None of us overweight all slim and petite. But I think the reason that the average age for females reaching puberty is lower is due to environmental estrogen overload.
Are boys also reaching puberty significantly earlier than previous generations?

yes they are

**one_raven** · 09-12-07, 02:54 PM

First these people have to prove that kids are reaching puberty younger.

I'm not convinced they are.
Where's the evidence?

I think it's people claiming this in reaction to kids beoming sexually active, dressing in more revealing clothes, talking about sex, and other "adult" activities younger.

**one_raven** · 09-12-07, 02:55 PM

Originally Posted by lucifers angel

yes they are

Where's the proof?

**~~Roman~~** · 09-12-07, 03:24 PM

There is substantial proof, raven. It's actually one of the reasons why the human population has exploded.

Better nutrition means menses begins sooner, which means women become pregnant sooner, which means more babies, faster.

Here's a scientific paper.

**NeonBlack** · 09-12-07, 10:28 PM

Roman, the abstract of that paper didn't say anything about population growth.

Let's say for arguement's sake that several hundred years ago, the average age of onset of puberty for girls was 14. Say today it's around 11.
Do you believe that a substantial part of the world's population is born to 11-13 year old girls?
The most developed countries (which also have the best nutrition) have the lowest birth rates.

The real reason the population has exploded is probably because of the huge decrease in infant mortality.

**Orleander** · 09-13-07, 08:26 AM

Originally Posted by NeonBlack

...The real reason the population has exploded is probably because of the huge decrease in infant mortality.

Wouldn't that be offset by birthcontrol? 13 kid families are A LOT rarer than they used to be.

**~~spuriousmonkey~~** · 09-13-07, 08:38 AM

...

Whereas reference data seemed to have stabilized in most industrialized countries during the 1990s, two recent American studies (6, 7), which were reviewed by Lee et al. (8), highlighted an unexpected and unexplained advance in physiological age at the onset of breast development.

**iceaura** · 09-13-07, 07:22 PM

Aside from obesity, which encourages early puberty, nothing obvious that tracks the actual patterns.

And Raven is right, there isn't much trustworthy data for comparison.

Especially, you have to correct for malnutrition, in looking at the past, including malnutrition of the mother - is may affect the epigenetic methylations etc of her children

Wouldn't that be offset by birthcontrol? 13 kid families are A LOT rarer than they used to be.

In the US.

Not in some other places, yet.