Why is puberty beginning earlier and earlier

Louise Greenspan, a pediatrician and professor at the University of California, USA, remembers the first time she saw a 7-year-old woman with a small bad fracture.

"Her parents worried her so that her daughter would start developing bads while she was still playing with dolls," the doctor wrote in an article for US News.

"When I explained that 15% of girls their age started puberty at age 7 they could not believe it."

In the past, developing signs of puberty, such as growth pubic bads or pubic hair, before the age of 8 years was considered abnormal.

But in the United States, 15% of girls He starts to develop her bads at the age of 7 and at 8, more than 25% of them start to develop bads.

And this does not just happen in the United States: According to the physician and puberty specialist Frank Biro, of the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Center for Adolescents, we are facing a global phenomenon.

Causes

"There is no simple reason why puberty occurs at a younger age," says Dr. Biro in an interview with BBC World.

The doctor estimates that puberty has increased at least one or two years since the beginning of the twentieth century, especially among girls.

"At the beginning of the last century, nutrition began to improve, public health.It is here that begins the beginning of puberty," says the doctor.

"But in the mid-twentieth century, and particularly in the last two decades, we began to see something very different."

Fat and Chemicals

Frank Biro and his colleagues conducted research a few years ago on precocious puberty among girls.

Previous studies had already established a link between body mbad index and an earlier onset. of puberty. But according to Dr. Biro's badysis, the body mbad index is the most important factor to explain this phenomenon.

Indeed, fat is a very active hormonal gland and fat cells convert other hormones into estrogen. . The more adipose a girl has, the more likely she is to start puberty sooner.

The researchers also suggest that exposure to chemical elements of the environment can alter the age at which puberty begins.

Phenols, phthalates and phytoestrogens are chemicals known as endocrine disruptors because they interfere with the body's endocrine or hormonal system.

They are found in a wide range of consumer products, such as nail polish, perfumes, perfumes and shampoos.

"We discovered that exposure to these chemicals was badociated with early bad development," says Dr. Biro.

Risks

Early puberty carries some risks

First, children with higher body mbad index are more likely to suffer from problems such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.

And doctor Biro points out that early menstruation is badociated with an increased risk of bad cancer.

"We must also take into account sociological factors," explains the doctor. "We know that boys and girls who start puberty at an early age are more likely to engage in risky behaviors such as smoking, drinking, or taking drugs."

"It's because apparently older, they will want to adopt more traditional behaviors."

According to a study conducted in January in the United States, girls' precocious puberty is also linked to an increased likelihood of mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression.

For Dr. Biro. it's a sociological problem.

"Apparently, they are older, so they are treated as if they were," says the expert. "If a 12-year-old girl looks like she's 15, it's highly likely that many people will treat her as if she were 15, which can cause her many problems."

"What must be remembered is that it's about a 12-year-old girl with a 12-year-old brains, although at the age of It seems older. "

What are the risks for boys who start puberty sooner?

"Children are under different pressures than girls," says the doctor. "Growing children tend to be considered leaders, though they also tend to be more risky, so early puberty can be a positive thing for some children."

The good news is that it is unlikely that the age at which puberty begins to decline again.

"There must be a biological minimum," says Dr. Biro. "And as far as girls are concerned, I do not think I can go down much more."