Beginning their period at age 10?

[underpants]

My wife and I heard about this from a friend this week. She is a biologist and she was telling us that this is a big topic of discussion in biology and the science/health care fields.

Apparently more and more young girls are beginning their periods at age 10.

The main reason, we were told, is the hormones and antibiotics in the food sources--beef and chicken.

Anyone heard of this?

[Breeze54]

1. My friends daughter was 8 !!

No shit. :crazy:

[jaysunb]

13. An elementary school teacher friend reports...

she has seen many 8&9 year olds begin in the last 7 to 8 years. One she said completely freaked out and caused quite a commotion in the classroom. 4th graders no less.

She also thinks it's the food additives.

[Breeze54]

19. My friend freaked out too!

And she also had to contend with explaining it all to an 8 year old.
Seemed to be to early for that and I know it's never to early for
sex education but usually those details come a little later!

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

2. My eldest is 11, she has a well-developed body, and no period yet. -nt

[bdamomma]

73. my two girls are 11 no period yet, can I ask you a question

would you tell them now about it, then they won't be surprised when they get it?

[Manifestor_of_Light]

96. Yes, you MUST explain it to them before it happens!!

Please don't let them freak out over it!!!

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

102. I'm glad to say she is well-informed. -nt

[Neoma]

3. I thought that was only in beef.

[Dora]

4. I've heard that plastics and pthalates might be involved too. n/t

[rasputin1952]

90. On pthalates:

"Phthalates are controversial because high doses of many phthalates have shown hormonal activity in rodent studies."

"
2004 - a joint Swedish-Danish research team found a very strong link between allergies in children and the phthalates DEHP and BBzP.

2004 - On the other hand, a study by Children's National Medical Center and George Washington University was found no adverse effects in adolescents who had been exposed to phthalates as neonates. The study measured both physical characteristics and chemical characteristics of the subjects <2>.

2005 - study reported that phthalates may mimic the female hormone oestrogen (see xenoestrogens), and cause "feminisation" of baby boys. Phthalates and Baby Boys: Potential Disruption of Human Genital Development. Barrett JR. Environ Health Perspect. 2005 Aug;"



More: http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Pthalates

[Rosemary2205]

5. I was 9 and was raised fairly organically.

I am in my 50's. Nearly all the girls in my school started at about 12 or 14 though.

[LiberalHeart]

39. I had just turned 11 ... and that was over 50 years ago.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

103. You know, I'm starting to think this whole...

..."OMG OVERSEXUALIZING IS MAKING THEIR PERIODS START EARLIER" ooga-booga is a lie.

[leftynyc]

95. I was 9 also

that was 37 years ago - my mom got hers at 10. Sometimes it's just genetics.

[LeftyMom]

99. Body fat percentage is a big factor too.

It increases at the start of puberty, if it stays low it tends to delay menarche.

That's why average menarche was later when people had less reliable access to food and is lower now that so many kids are on the pudgy side. Added hormones in food almost certainly don't help, but body fat percentage alone can explain the change for the most part.

[SharonAnn]

104. Wow, I was almost 16. I almost had my driver's license before my first period.

OF course, then menopause was also very late.

[Flaxbee]

6. yes, I have heard of this.

10 has always been at the early end of the spectrum for beginning one's period, but not radically uncommon. It is becoming increasingly common, though, and I have also heard/read that it is because of the hormones pumped into food - mostly beef, chicken, and pork. And then of course you need to stay away from fish b/c of mercury.

Anyway - I know there are many organic farms in Virginia that say they raise beef hormone-free. I'm sure there are also farms that raise other animals hormone-free.

[underpants]

18. We are going to a organic market tomorrow

grass fed beef only. Just outside of Richmond. My wife looked it up yesterday.

We have had it with the food people. We both know first hand how the corporate types operate (as well as reading articles) and we decided that added to the liveable wage aspect for the farmers we are going to buy from the people who make the food.

I would sooner trust a crackhead with my car keys than I would agri-business to feed my family.

[trotsky]

81. You will love the grass-fed beef.

So much more tender and flavorful.

[KittyWampus]

83. I can also attest. And a fresh killed chicken vs. Perdue. It's like night and day.

Can't find a fresh killed chicken, then get a Empire Kosher chicken.

[trotsky]

84. My grandparents raised chickens.

That was the only chicken I ever ate growing up. It was a real shock my first trip down the college cafeteria line seeing these scrawny wing drummies being passed off as chicken legs. My roommate laughed and said, nope, those are chicken legs.

[cally]

101. There are many wonderful organic suppliers that will deliver a

box of fresh produce and meat to your door each week. I sometimes use one in my area but I live within walking distance of a wonderful local farmer's mkt. I think I have a link somewhere for a national clearinghouse of these type of grocers. Let me know if you, or anyone else, is interested and I'll try to find the link.

[Sapere aude]

59. Were I live in CA we have free range cattle. I don't know where they are sold but they eat only

the grass that grows naturally and alfalfa in the winter.

[wakeme2008]

7. would be interesting to compare DU's Veggie / Where's the Beef

ages of daughter starting their .

[Rue]

8. I was 10 when I began my period.

And I have also heard that it's in the food.

I also wonder if the increased sexualization of our culture has anything to do with this. Psychosomatic effects are a proven part of medicine nowadays, and I think the two could be related.

Of course, I'm not a medical professional, so take that with a grain of salt.

[verse18]

9. I was ten when I started and that was 20 years ago.

My cousin was ten as well.

[EFerrari]

23. Me, too and I refuse to say how many years ago that was.

:)

[Systematic Chaos]

10. It's called "precocious puberty" and it affecting FIVE YEAR OLDS now.

Do a Google for it, and be afraid. Be VERY afraid. :(

[deadmessengers]

11. I'm told that my mother-in-law was 9

I don't think we had hormones and antibiotics in meat back in the 50s, though.

[moc]

12. My understanding is that the hormones in food link to declining menarche is a myth.

(I'm a public health academic specializing in maternal and child health, but adolescence is not my area. This is just want I've heard from adolescent researchers.)

From what I recall, the more likely culprit is increasing levels of childhood obesity and increased consumption of fat (even among those who are not obese).

[AlCzervik]

17. i've also heard the same thing, my daughter started and stopped when she was 10, she was chubby but

but we stopped eating all fast food and she also stopped drinking soda and ended up losing about 20 pounds. I took her to the peditrician because i was worried and they said it was related to body fat.

[ananda]

21. I also think it's fat.

nt

[rasputin1952]

94. The thing about fats is that they keep chem's that get into

them a long time. Diazepam, (Valium) is a prime example. I once lost a job because I had taken my last valium a week before a piss test, and I threw the bottle out. The MD I had gotten the Rx from had moved, and I didn't get in touch w/him till long after I had been canned. What a PITA...:(

[OzarkDem]

62. Scientific cite, please?

Here's a link, see if you can find the studies to defend your position:

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/

[moc]

77. Why don't you do your own search? I'm not your research assistant,

and I feel no need to "defend my position". As I said, I'm a public health academic in MCH, but not adolescence specifically, and this is what I've heard from adolescent research colleagues. If you want to debate that, go do your own lit review.

[wicket]

14. My friend got her period when we were 8, in 1986

n/t

[Lurking Dem]

26. Sorry for being off topic

but hearing about being 8 in 1986 makes me feel very, very, v e r y, old.

[wicket]

31. Sorry 'bout that!

:) :hi:

[Orsino]

15. We're always hearing about it...

...but the tales never seem to include any meaningful statistics. Is it really happening "more and more" often? I dunno.

I suspect that we're actually measuring parents' surprise, rather than significant changes in the onset of puberty. Society wants us to believe that kids are kids until they're eighteen...but Mother Nature didn't get the memo.

[underpants]

22. That is very likely

thanks for the perspective

[sarge43]

16. I have read that the key is percentage of body fat.

When it reaches a critical level (sorry, I don't remember the exact number), menstruation begins. As our children are becoming heavier earlier, this could be a factor.

[Iris]

30. I've also heard that.

Although, I'm not so sure the hormones in our food supply don't also contribute.

[sarge43]

41. I'm not sure either.

Just saying that body fat is probably the traditional biological key. Another area of study re hormones: Are women still menstruating later in life?

[Samurai_Writer]

57. Well, I certainly am

I'm 46 and I'm not even PRE-menopausal yet. My mom didn't reach menopause until she was 55. My grandmother didn't reach menopause until she was 60! And we all started our periods early, too.

My gynecologist actually said it's healthier for women to reach menopause later. But damn, I wish I was finished with it already!

[sarge43]

91. 60! Wow.

Me, I'm textbook - 13 to 50.

"But damn, I wish I was finished with it already!"

Be careful what you wish for. The best description I know - it's like going through puberty backwards.:eyes:

[Captain Hilts]

35. I've read that girls in athletics start later. nt

[underpants]

54. Yeah but that can make them lesbians

JUST KIDDING!! That was the "conventional wisdom" in some circles back in the day.

:eyes:

[Captain Hilts]

76. Just team sports! Ha ha...

Man, that kind of attitude wasn't that long ago.

Too bad, I remember Peggy Fleming saying that if they'd had girls ice hockey when she was a kid, she would MUCH rather have played that as being a figure skater, and competing as an individual against everyone - including your team mates - was a real drag.

[windbreeze]

70. ahhh...don't know if I buy that one....because

I have one g.kid that has been in every sport you can name and has participated in one sport or another all year long, since she was 5 yrs old....started when she was 10
another g.kid that does only one sport...and started like a week after her 11th bd..
so they both started w/in 6 months of being the same age, exactly...so sports didn't seem to make a difference...however, neither of them are gymnasts...and I do believe that is the one sport that makes a difference...because they keep such control over their weight...(which in turn, makes a case for fat also being a factor.....this thread is the first time I had heard that)
wb

[Captain Hilts]

75. I'd heard it a lot in reference to track, soccer, etc.

It's percentage of bodyfat.

I lost a pile of weight in my 20s and my periods become much less eventful. Perhaps that was just getting older. I don't know.

[windbreeze]

92. both play soccer... n/t

[RC Quake]

97. I didn't start until I was 15.

The Dr. said it was because I had little body fat and was really athletic. Little did they know I was also bulemic.

Now I'm in menopause at 42. :woohoo:

[Blue_In_AK]

20. I remember some girls

getting their periods when we was in sixth grade back in the dark ages, 1961. :shrug: Maybe there are more now, I don't know. My three girls (21 to 35) all got theirs right about on schedule, 13 or so.

[scarlet_owl]

24. I started at age nine.

[AngryOldDem]

25. Only makes sense

Look at all the additives and growth hormones and God-knows-what else that has been put into food over the past couple of decades. Eventually, it will have an effect on growth and development.

What a coincidence that this thread came up. Just this morning I was remarking to my husband how surprised I was at the height and girth of some of the girls in my daughter's first-grade class. If I didn't know better, I would say they were third-graders or higher. Boys, too, are on the average taller, I think -- there are kids at my son's kindergarten who look like second-graders. It's scary.

I don't know how true this is, either, but I also heard that since most of the additives in food are female-hormone-based, that is having an effect on testosterone levels, sperm counts, among other things.

For what it's worth, it's free-range meat for me. I wish I could just give up meat altogether, but I don't see that happening.

[dogday]

27. Mine started at age 10

The nurse at elementary school said many 5th grade girls start... That is remarkable and yes beef and chicken hormones play a huge part of this....

[flvegan]

28. Notice how boys are maturing faster now, as well?

They seem much bigger on a large scale, and I've seen kids that can't be but 13 get off the bus with facial hair.

I believe it's the food supply as well.

[AllegroRondo]

29. Part of it is increased childhood obesity too

heavier girls tend to start sooner.

[underpants]

34. That seems to be the consensus here

a result of their "lifestyle" as well as the food they eat now.

[NanceGreggs]

32. A subject I am more than familiar with!

I am a court reporter, and have done several cases involving hormones in food-producing animals, and the effects on the human population (the most recent being this past week, ironically).

Hormones can be injected into the animals, or mixed in their feed - and often BOTH methods are used simultaneously.

This practice has been banned (or extremely restricted) in the EU countries, and studies show that there has been a decline in what is termed "sexual precociousness" in children, i.e. an earlier-than-normal onset of puberty, menstruation, breast development, etc.

However, in Canada and the US, the practice of using hormones and antibiotics in food-producing animals is widespread, including use on beef cattle, pigs and poultry.

If you Google-search the topic, you can read published scientific papers on the subject, as well as test study results.

[underpants]

38. Thank you

Love your articles!

[NanceGreggs]

52. You're welcome!

Just had to laugh when I saw this thread, as I literally just finished (last night) typing hundreds of pages of transcript from a hearing on this very topic!

There are many environmental/agricultral organizations that have been fighting this battle in the Canadian courts for years now. But they're up against the mega-buck corporations who run farming operations that don't want this practice banned or restricted in any way.

Of course, the meat-poultry industry have their own published papers trying to disprove the link between ill-effects in consumers and the use of hormones and antibiotics in animals - much in the same way the oil companies have published papers to dispute global warming. So if you do Google-search for related materials, be sure to check the source before accepting what is being said ...

(And thanks for the compliment re my articles!)

[underpants]

58. Yeah we are going to an organic market tomorrow

as I posted before. We've had it. We don't trust agri-business and the food companies at all.

My wife is great. She watches our diet and cooks great healthy food for us. I've dropped 40 lbs since the last day of January and she has lost 23 since last October.

[OzarkDem]

53. Sound scientific evidence - hormones, not fat

thanks Nance, good suggestion.

All the constant rants of "fat children" here at DU get a little tiresome.

[Captain Hilts]

78. Not a dig a heavier kids at all. ...

But athletic girls' bodies do have different patterns of development.

[klyon]

33. young women that participate in athletics develop later?

?

[underpants]

36. There seems to be a consensus on the ratio of body fat to early periods

so atheltic types generally are thinner or in better shape (the aren't sedative) so that factors in there as well.

[PDJane]

43. It seems to be the percentage of muscle to body fat.......

I was a dancer from the age of five........and didn't hit puberty until I was fifteen. Twelve to thirteen was normal for my age group, but mine was delayed. Most of the dancers/swimmers/gymnasts I knew were late too. Now, of course, gymnasts are encouraged to delay puberty, sometimes by hormonal means. We are doing some very strange things to mother nature lately.

[Horse with no Name]

37. Yes.

Also--the size of kid's feet is getting bigger.
It used to be an aberration to have size 10 feet--but that is getting to be very normal.

[MH1]

40. Yes - it was mentioned quite a bit at THK's conference in Pittsburgh

You can watch podcasts and download slides of the conference here now:
http://www.womenshealthpittsburgh.org/podcasts.html

This was just one of the topics relating to Women's Health and the Environment, but it did get some coverage.

Before the conference though, I was only vaguely aware.

[underpants]

51. Thanks

:hi:

[hippiechick]

42. HippieKid was 12 ...

... in case you haven't noticed, they're growin' kiddos alot bigger, alot sooner these days then when we were young. I think alot of it has to do with all the processed fast-food this generation has grown up on. Hormones and chemicals out the wazoo, man.

Just last week a 17 year old high school junior, 6'2, 210, arrested on rape charges .

WTF?? :wtf:

[underpants]

49. We had one guy we played high school football against who was huge

he was 6'5" and 250 that seemed HUGE at the time. It is not so rare anymore from what I have seen.

Anecdotal stories sure but it does seem that way.

[donsu]

44. yes, true and men's nipples are changing

nt

[BadAssTeddyBear]

45. My mother says

My mother has been saying for years that "girls are developing breasts earlier and earlier because they are eating more and more chicken" And the chicken industry tells us they put the birds on hormones to grow larger beasts. It seems to me they are the same thing. If a mom says it.........

[mwb970]

46. My niece was 11.

Just what she needed!

[helderheid]

47. yes. I was 9 (am 32 now).

[hippiechick]

82. Gawd, do I feel SORRY for you !!

:( Nine??? :(

[donsu]

48. I'm almost 72 & I started the summer I turned 12, my mother was 15

when she started.

[Samurai_Writer]

50. I started at age 11... back in 1972.

I was the first of my friends to start, but only by a few months or a year at most. I asked my mom (who is 71 now), and she started at 12 back in 1948.

"Early" periods have been around for many decades now, as girls are maturing at a faster rate. Could be part genetics, part environment, part food sources. Although we didn't have hormones and antibiotics back when I was growing up, and neither did my mom.

[ceile]

55. I was 10.

I was only a little earlier than most my friends.

[GreenPartyVoter]

56. My mother was 10. That was back in 1958. Oddly though, her mom was

15. And me, I was 13.

So go figure, eh? :)

Still, I would not be the least bit surprised to hear that kids' hormones are being screwed with by or food. I know there are fish and frogs that have been affected by hormones entering their environment.

[Adelante]

60. I was 10 in 1957

It was considered early at that time, but not out of the realm of possibility.

[windbreeze]

61. Anyone heard of what....??? them starting that young, OR...the reason?

I am NO scientist or biologist...I've been saying for years, to anyone who would listen, that it is all the hormones, preservatives, antibiotics in our food...it is too logical, not to be the reason...

I am truly happy to hear someone in the health field is finally discussing this...I feel it took way to long, we should have been concerned about this, years ago, when it first became obvious that something was affecting how quickly our daughters developed..it only stands to reason, that their excessive body maturity at a young age is caused by a common denominator that affects them all.....that would be their food...

So far all my g.daughters have started at 10(oops, mistake...one had barely turned 11..like a week or so after)...as did my own daughter...and every time I am a little more dismayed...I don't think their minds are ready to deal with this at the age of 10...they are still in grade school for heaven's sake...my generation at least made it to Jr.High...and at this age, one or two years makes a big difference...
wb

[underpants]

64. See post #32

Great link there

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

63. I started mine shortly after my 14th birthday in 1967.

I was a pretty active athlete though when I was younger. I figure skated during the winter, played volleyball and swam during the summer.

I was actually beginning to get worried about myself, because all my friends had started at least a year earlier than myself.

I guess I was just a "late developer".

[bleedingheart]

65. body fat is also an issue

girls who are very athletic and are lean tend to get their periods later...

http://www.fda.gov/fdac/reprints/ots_mens.html

I am not discounting hormones, but I know that one of my aunts had her first child at 14 (early 14)..and that was back in the 1920's...and there weren't any hormones in the beef back then...women in my family tend to get their periods much earlier and do not get menopause until their mid to late 50's...we are a very fertile bunch.

[Connie_Corleone]

66. I was 11 when I started.

[BlooInBloo]

67. I've heard it hitting girls earlier and earlier. Never understood why.

[ellie]

68. I was 12,

but a girl I went to grade school started when she was 9. This was in 1974 and she was a gymnast!

[Connonym]

69. Dear daughter started secondary signs of puberty at 7

It's weird to shave your 7 year old's under arms so that she won't feel funny at the pool. She didn't menstruate until 11 thought. My younger daughter, on the other hand, is 11 and has not had any secondary signs at all. I started at 13. It's really hard to figure what the variables are. Fourth grade seemed to be a big year for it with my daughters' friends. Then there's the 13 year old at school who's 7 months' pregnant...the world is going to hell (but I'm really cranky today so maybe I'm too bleak)

[cobalt1999]

71. there have been numerous articles and studies about estrogen in the water supply

Apparently, with all the women now taking estrogen it ends up in the rivers and water supply.

[Carolina]

72. absolutely

our Frankenfood supply/chain is full of antibiotics, pesticides with estrogenic activity, and such hormones as growth hormone and estrogen.

Look at young girls in middle school today; they have the bodies of well-developed women.

Corporate agribusiness is killing us in soooo many ways.

[Withywindle]

79. But the girls in middle school did when I was there too

25 years ago. 10 was early for first period, but not unheard of--there were a couple girls in my 5th grade class who were pretty fully developed by then. Boys teased them; other girls envied them.

Got mine a week after my 12th birthday in 1981, and I was pretty squarely average among my peers. And by 13 I had the same bra size I wear to this day (C). Again, squarely average.

We'd all read 'Are You There God, It's Me Margaret' by 5th grade, that's for sure.

And this was a very rural area. Lots of what we ate was locally-produced and not from corporate farms.

I'm not saying it's not a factor nowadays--just that there seems to be a lot of selective memory going on about "how fast kids grow up today" mixed in with the science.

[BluePatriot]

74. *nods*

I have heard of it. I got mine when I was 12. There was one girl who got hers in second grade, I remember that one...

[rasputin1952]

80. Yes, there are hormones in almost everything outside of veggies

at this point. Even milk is tainted w/Bovine Growth Hormone.

Some of these hormones in high enough doses will have dramatic effects on the bodies of both males and females. There was a time when they injected testosterone into bulls, Lord knows what else.

Lactating hormones were/are given to milk cows, w/the result of increased milk production. What is ridiculous about this, is that excess milk, millions of pounds, is tossed into rivers every day. Why give the cattle the stuff if you're only going to throw it away?....:eyes:

We have screwed w/systems for so long now, no one knows the implications that have come down the pike. We're killing ourselves w/this stuff...:(

[Ezlivin]

85. Remember the saying "Old enough to bleed, old enough to breed"?

One worry about these early starts to menstruation is the rise in unintended pregnancies. Will the proclivity to procreate arise from this early maturation?

Perhaps this generation of precocious children will agitate for the right to choose. I certainly hope their political minds mature as rapidly as their bodies.

[TexasLady]

86. I saw a discovery channel show

that IFRC said that girls that hit a certain weight(92 or so) tend to start their periods(plus geneteic factors, height, etc..). My oldest D and I both started at 13.

I know that if females live with me, we all synchrinize our periods within days and sometimes hours. I wonder if the same happens for menarche?

[Lurking Dem]

88. Interesting.

I started at 14 when I finally hit about that weight.

[porphyrian]

87. Recombinant Growth Hormones

That's my bet.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

89. My daughter had friends who were as young as 9 when they started

All but four of them had started by the time they were thirteen. Only my daughter and one other girl started after they'd turned 14 years old.

[Zywiec]

93. Less about weight, more about percentage of body fat

[madinmaryland]

98. OMFG!!1!! My daughter turns 10 this year.

Just what I need.

:ugh:

[tammywammy]

100. I started when I was 10 in 1990

I was a thin child too, not overweight at all.

[blogslut]

105. I'm no fan of additives

But I tend to think it's more of body fat thing. By the time I was ten, I weighed 96 pounds and had grown to my full height and at the very end of the school year -at a track meet no less - I started. My P.E. teacher was such a cow about it. We had seen "the film" that year. I thought my P.E. teacher would be sympathetic like the ladies in the film. But no, bitch laughed and pointed. She was a horrible human being.