Junk Food Blamed For Early Puberty in Girls

Unhealthy lifestyles have reduced the onset of puberty age by more than five years in girls, claim experts.

Some girls are only six or seven years old when they have to cope with their first period, the Sun reported.

Precocious Puberty - Causes - Symptoms - Diagnosis - Treatment - FAQs
The period of maturation of sexual and physical characteristics is known as puberty and when these bodily changes happen before time it is known as ‘precocious puberty’.

A US study has found that boys are also hitting physical maturity two years earlier than they did in the past.

Scientists found that the average age for the onset of puberty in girls was 16.6 years in 1860.

But by 1920 it was 14.6, in 1950, 13.1, in 1980, 12.5 and in 2010 it had decreased to 10.5.

Primary Amenorrhea - Overview and History
Amenorrhea is a menstrual disorder in women indicating absence of menses. Menstruation signals womanhood, the gift of procreation, re-creation, and regeneration.

Experts fear that this problem could lead to an increase in young girls getting pregnant.

Marcia Herman-Giddens, from the University of North Carolina where the latest research was carried out, claimed that obesity may well to be blame as it alters the body's hormones - with some starting to show the first signs of maturity as young as six.

Menstrual Cramps | Dysmenorrhea - Types Causes Symptoms Diagnosis Treatment Prevention
Dysmenorrhea, menstrual cramps or painful periods is the commonest menstrual disorder. The causes are varied. Treatment aims at providing pain relief.

The average age for white and Hispanic boys is 10, while it is 9 for black boys.

Tam Fry, honorary chairman of the UK's Child Growth Foundation, has explained this as a "ticking timebomb" for today's society.

Poor Children Eat More Junk Food
Children from poorer backgrounds are more likely to eat junk foods and consume fizzy drinks, in comparison to their financially better-off counterparts.

Source-ANI