I know our world is moving faster than most of us like, and now it’s time to be concerned about the way our children are growing up too quickly in the physical sense.
The average American girl now reaches menarche (the onset of menstrual periods, signaling puberty) a full 18 months earlier than girls of just 50 years ago (that would be my generation).
A landmark 1997 study of 17,000 girls startled parents with its findings that nearly 7 percent of white girls and 27 percent of African-American girls start developing breasts by age 7. That’s during second grade!
In fact, pediatricians are no longer alarmed about breast tissue growth among girls under the age of 2.
I was appalled when I discovered my then 21-month old granddaughter was developing a breast! Her pediatrician told my daughter this is “fairly common” among little girls. But in girls who were not yet even two years old? I was horrified. If it is common, it is even more alarming because it certainly is not normal.
Endocrine disruptors
Many experts theorize that this condition, which now has a medical name: precocious puberty, is caused by xenoestrogens. These are toxins that act like estrogen in the human body and unbalance the delicate dance of hormones. They’re also known as endocrine disruptors.
Many of these hormone disruptors are petrochemical-based and have been found in a multitude of common household plastics, including water bottles, toddlers’ toys and fid packaging. They’re also found in pesticides, dioxin, food dyes and preservatives even in common cosmetics.
Phthalates
Among the most dangerous xenoestrogens are called phthalates (pronounced THAL-aytz) that soften plastics.
We are all exposed to them all the time. They have also worked their way into the water supply by becoming airborne (as in industrial air pollutants) or through agricultural chemicals leeching through the ground.
Growth hormones injected into dairy cattle have brought hormone disruptors into our milkstream and, to a certain degree, into our meat supply.
These xenoestrogens became part of our environment about 70 years ago.
Reproductive disruption
Their effects have been profound. Xenoestrogens disrupt the process of reproduction, causing low sperm count in boys and early puberty in girls. Phthalates are also known to increase the risk of breast cancer.
We also know that lifelong exposure to a woman’s natural estrogen increases the risk of breast cancer, so girls reaching puberty early results in a greater lifetime risk of breast cancer.
Prevention is the best path. Here are a few suggestions:
Go organic with dairy: Organic dairy products are a must for all children who have been weaned from breast milk. The hormonal risks and those posed by the antibiotics used in non-organic dairy operations are daunting.
Go organic entirely, if you can: This is not just for kids, it’s for all ages. The harsh chemicals used in food production, processing and preservation are immensely harmful to everyone’s health. If your budget will tolerate it, buy as many organic products as possible, from your meats to your fruits, vegetables, grains, cleaning products and even cosmetics and personal care items like soap and shampoo.
Eliminate pesticides and herbicides from your lawn: The vast majority of these toxic chemicals consumed in America today are used by homeowners and they are often used incorrectly. If you must use them, follow all the precautions, wear gloves and masks and measure precisely the amounts you need. Store them safely and away from your house, garden and water supply.
Banish plastic from your house: I know. This is nearly impossible. But as much as possible, don’t buy food packaged in plastic because the phthalates leech into the food, especially in meat that is packaged on Styrofoam trays and wrapped in plastic wrap. Don’t drink out of plastic cups and don’t let your kids do so either. Never heat food in a microwave in plastic containers because that accelerates the phthalate leeching. While you’re at it, get rid of any Teflon-coated cookware. At high heats it off-gasses harmful chemicals known to cause various types of cancer. Opt instead for cast iron, or better yet, porcelain-coated cast iron.
Banish plastic and Styrofoam from your life as much as you can. I’m specifically talking about drinking hot liquids out of Styrofoam cups like that lovely latte at your favorite java house. The fumes from hot liquid interacting with petrochemical-based Styrofoam are toxic—and you’re putting the cup to your mouth, so you inhale them with every sip!
Avoid bottled water for the same reasons: Not only is the waste a burden on the environment, the plastic bottle leeches phthalates into the water you’re drinking. The leeching is accelerated if the bottle is left in a warm place, like your car or your gym bag. Opt for a good water filter at home and, as much and possible, carry your water with you in glass or stainless steel containers that won’t leech.
Protecting yourself from xenoestrogens as much as possible is important for every human being, but it is especially crucial for children and women of all ages.
A Toxic Soup
Fact: Twenty-First Century Girls are reaching puberty at dramatically earlier ages than their mothers and grandmothers.
Today, girls are commonly showing signs of puberty – budding breasts and pubic hair — before the age of 7.
Those ages have been steadily decreasing for decades and they dramatically decreased even more in the 13 years between 1997 and 2011.
A pivotal 2011 study from the University of Cincinnati showed that white girls entered puberty on average at 9.7 years old, which is three to four months younger than the average age reported by University of North Carolina scientists just 14 years earlier and much younger than the average age suggested by data from the 1960s. Girls of other ethnicities are also entering puberty at earlier ages, but the drop in age hasn’t been as dramatic as in white girls.
One daunting 2009 Danish study showed that girls were developing breasts a full year earlier than those born 15 years earlier.
Blame it on the burgers, fries and Cokes
The rise in childhood obesity is the major culprit in the lower age of puberty, according to the study’s lead researcher, Frank Biro, M.D., director of adolescent medicine at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
“Body mass index is the overwhelmingly predominant factor in the age at which a girl reaches puberty,” says Biro. “It’s more important than race or ethnicity. Heavy white girls and heavy black girls are all maturing earlier.”
He adds, “These girls were born and raised in the midst of an obesity epidemic. This is yet another impact of obesity epidemic in this country.”
Science has long shown us that fat tissue actually produces hormones, including estrogen that can accelerate the process of puberty, especially in early breast development, according to Louise Greenspan, M.D. and Julianna Deardorff, Ph.D., authors The New Puberty. They cite one foundation study from the 1980s that showed for every point increase on the body mass index, the age of first menstruation dropped by about one month.
Toxic soup
Hormone disrupting chemicals found everywhere in our lives are undoubtedly a culprit in this early puberty epidemic, says Michael Murray, N.D.,
Endocrine disruptors that trigger the body to produce excess amounts of estrogen include chemicals found in clothing, especially children’s sleepwear, furniture and carpets, anything plastic, personal care products, cleaning solvents, glues, dry cleaning chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, meat and milk and triggering puberty before its natural time.
“It’s a matter of the chicken or the egg,” Murray says. “There is certainly a link between these persistent organic pollutants and obesity.”
Antibiotics in meat and diary products may be a greater risk than hormones, adds Greenspan: “The concern is that chronic low-dose antibiotic exposure could affect the body’s microbiome (the colony of microorganisms in the digestive tract), which can lead to obesity and may also influence puberty.”
The stress monster
“A large body of research now supports the notion that excessive stress early in life can indeed affect the timing of puberty,” says Greenspan, a pediatric endocrinologist on the faculty at the University of California at San Francisco.
Stressors can be as obvious as sexual abuse or child abuse, or as comparatively subtle as stressful relationships in the family, low emotional investment on the part of parents, and a mother who is depressed.
“Girls who grow up in homes without their biological fathers are twice as likely to experience early menarche as are girls who grow up with both parents,” adds Deardorff, a clinical psychologist on the faculty of the University of California at San Francisco.
Risks
Girls who reach puberty at younger and younger ages face a variety of health challenges.
“Early puberty increases risks in the social arena as well,” adds Deardorff. “We know that girls who develop ahead of their peers have more anxiety, a higher incidence of depression, poorer body images and more eating disorders.”
Stress also leads to higher levels of cortisol and higher levels of obesity and its documented risks for early puberty, adds Biro.
Girls who reach puberty early are also at higher risk for breast cancer later in life, says Biro, “possibly due to greater lifetime exposure to female hormones and the susceptibility of rapidly developing breast tissue to environmental toxins.”
Biro also cites a wide body of research that suggests these girls are at increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases later in life.
Strategies for parents
All of our experts agree that a clean diet is one of the most powerful strategies to protect young girls.
“Look at the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list,” recommends Murray. “If you buy these foods organic, you will not only be avoiding hormone disrupting pesticides and herbicides, you’ll also be giving you children the protection of antioxidants that can help protect against other toxins.”
–This is based on a article Kathleen wrote for Natural Awakenings magazine in 2014. Learn more about environmental toxins in Kathleen’s book, Our Toxic World: A Survivor’s Guide
Early puberty in boys
There is very little information about early puberty in boys, although Biro’s research shows that, unlike overweight girls, obese boys tend to reach puberty later than average.
Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio suggests talking to a doctor if a boy start experiencing any of the following before the age of 9:
Growth of testicles
Growth of penis
Growth of pubic, underarm or facial hair
Rapid height growth
Voice deepening
Acne
Adult body odor
The Dirty Dozen
The Environmental Working Group says these foods are the most heavily contaminated with pesticides, so look for organic versions:
Last Updated – 9/13/2019
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