The Falling Age of Puberty and Breast Cancer
Girls get their first periods today, on average, a few months earlier than did girls 40 years ago, but they get their breasts one to two years earlier. Over the course of a few decades, the childhoods of U.S. girls have been significantly shortened. What does this mean for girls today and their health in the future?
The Breast Cancer Fund commissioned ecologist and author Sandra Steingraber to write The Falling Age of Puberty— the first comprehensive review of the literature on the timing of puberty — to help us better understand this phenomenon so we can protect our daughters’ health. More »
What Does Breast Cancer Have to Do With Early Puberty?
We know that early puberty is a known risk factor for breast cancer and other mental and physical health problems. More »
Possible Contributing Factors to Early Puberty
Like breast cancer, early puberty is influenced by a combination of factors, including obesity, environmental chemicals, inactivity, premature birth, formula feeding and more »
Key Findings From the Report
Our children are not adequately protected from environmental chemical exposures, particularly minority and low-income girls. We must work together to change that. More »
What We Can Do About the Falling Age of Puberty
Both Dr. Steingraber and the Breast Cancer Fund have made recommendations for scientific, political and personal action. More »
See also: Early Puberty in Girls Troubling
Breast Cancer Awareness: How Young Is Too Young?
Oct 11th, 2007 at 12:22 am
Hi brightfeather, glad you had a laugh there…
Just wanted to say that an old girlfriend from California I’m still in touch with - not on facebook ;-) - says that when she was a girl just after the onset of puberty, she noticed that within a day after eating meat - especially hot dogs, sausage, etc - she would get her period. She’s convinced it’s the hormones they feed the animals that’s residue in the meat. Might also be a cause of early onset of puberty.
Oct 11th, 2007 at 9:38 am
The early onset of puberty in countries where livestock are ingesting hormones is on the rise for sure.
This is one of the problems. Nowadays, the meat that you buy contains a lot of chemicals that you end up eating when you consume your favourite dish:
Antibiotics and steroids in the feed to prevent infections and increase weight quickly. This has had the effect of causing the development of new disease breeding bacteria, resistant to many form of antibiotics and causing a threat to human health.
Sex hormones such as androgens, progestogens and estrogens to promote faster growth in livestock. The long term effects associated with the consumption of these are:
Obesity, infertility, diabetes, dwarfism, gigantism, kidney disease, hypertension, precocious puberty , hypoglycaemia, masculinisation of females, feminisation of males and cancer.