Jaimie Etkin: The Devil Wore Manolos
Victoria's New Secret: Your 7-Year-Old May Be the New Kid on the Bra Store Block
Filed under: In The News, Development: Big Kids
Girls, they grow up so fast. Too fast. Credit: Getty Images
Specialists in glands and hormones have noticed an alarming increase in girls as young as 6 or 7 showing signs of puberty, according to a new study conducted through the Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Centers, established in 2003 by the National Institute of Environmental Health Science and the National Cancer Institute.
That means the trek to the bra store and the pressure to cover those little bumps may be mounting earlier than you anticipated. The new study reported in the journal Pediatrics found that very young girls are showing protrusions from their chests earlier than ever before, increasing their risk of breast cancer and other health problems, as well as taunts from boys, says Frank Biro, M.D., director of adolescent medicine at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the study's lead author, in a release.
The study found that the proportion of girls who had breast development at ages 7 and 8, particularly among white girls, is greater than that reported from studies of girls who were born 10 to 30 years earlier, according to the release. At age 7, 10 percent of white girls, 23 percent of black girls and 15 percent of Hispanic girls had evidence of breast development.
The issue is of concern, Biro says in the release, for both medical and psychosocial reasons. Studies suggest that earlier puberty, as measured by the age a girl is at first menstruation, can slightly increase the risk of breast cancer.
"What causes earlier onset of puberty isn't entirely clear at this time, but we are looking closely at several different potential factors, including genes and environmental exposures, as well as how those two may interact with each other," Biro says.
Overweight girls were more likely to have more breast development, the study shows. But Biro says he does not think weight is the whole story. He adds in the release that it is possible environmental chemicals are also playing a role, and that future research will examine girls' hormone levels and their exposure to various chemicals.
What the study means for retailers, who have come under fire for offering over-sexualized clothing to kids, remains to be seen. Last April, a survey by the Guardian.co.uk, found an array of items available in major chains, from a T-shirt for a 3-year-old bearing the slogan "Future WAG" to a top for a toddler with a pink bikini appliquéd on the front.
The Guardian's report prompted British retailer Primark to remove its line of padded bras for little girls, according to TheAge.com.
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ReaderComments (Page 2 of 5)
11-01-2010 @ 7:46AM
Allie said...While I agree that the hormones and chemicals in our foods are most likely to blame, I don't see how they are going to prove anything definitively as girls naturally develop at an individual pace. I was in a bra in 4th grade and had my period before I turned 11, however both my sisters (older and younger by 6 years) Didn't start menstruating until they were much older. I really DO feel that the chemicals and hormones in our food are the reason girls are developing earlier, as well as some of the obesity issues in our youth. It's why I try to by free range meat, and all natural produce as often as I can.
11-01-2010 @ 8:53AM
lisa said...you can't make an assumption on just your two kids.....duh !! But I do believe that hormones in meat play a small part in this.
11-01-2010 @ 12:09PM
Tony Ojurabesa said...Thanks Wendy,
Wendy, Thanks for sharing your family's expeirece on the subject. Your experiment needs to tell all of us in this Country something. A man is what he eats. It is the hybridized food that is killing and destorying the good health and proper god-designed growth process in our generation. The researchers might keep mute about this, but the dirty hormones and steroids being pumped into our livestocks is not only hurting the children, but even the adults. Now a 22 years old young man looks like he is past 50s. What a disgrace. Man's scientific knowledge is finally catching up with him. Our generation is the worst desease-ladened, since the world began.
What a pitiful age?
Yet, we refuse to acknowledge anything Godly in our society anymore hardly. It is righteousness that exalts a nation, the other way round is a reproach to any people. God help us.
11-01-2010 @ 1:21PM
JenP said...Fat cells release estrogen. Never in my life have I seen a skinny little girl develope early. I have a lot of relatives and I could easily pick out the girls who were going to develope early. They were the "husky" ones. Sorry but the truth hurts. These girls end up being overweight/obese adults too.
11-01-2010 @ 7:09AM
AttyDallas said...What the heck is a "W.A.G." -- is that the Brit term for a M.I.L.F.?
Reply
11-01-2010 @ 9:21AM
Alicia said...Wife and girlfriend.
11-01-2010 @ 7:19AM
Jane said...With all the hormones in foods and the food companies slipping soy in everything, how could they not mature faster? Soy slips estrogen into your food, YES, it does. If you are estrogen sensitive, it will make you feel terrible.
My daughter had breasts at 8 and was having mood swings (crying all the time). The dr said it was puberty already. She was getting acne really bad too.
I only buy meat without hormones, no soy, and I buy organic milk and eggs and she is so much better, no wild mood swings and the acne is gone.
We're guinea pigs.
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11-01-2010 @ 7:36AM
bigmama said...the theory that girls who live with men (step fathers, mom's boyfriend, non-realtives) who are not their biological fathers/do not share any genetics kick-starts puberty early makes a lot of sense, too ... think cave-man/primal survival stuff ....
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11-01-2010 @ 7:39AM
peaches said...It's so true, it's all the hormones in our food supply. Buy milk and meat that are hormone free, and stay away from processed food.
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11-01-2010 @ 9:23AM
Alicia said...Easy to say if you can afford it. Or we could be really proactive as a country and start pushing for corporate slaughterhouses and farms to stop injecting food.
11-01-2010 @ 8:26AM
marty said...The one link these professionals are leaving out of the equation is the growth hormones used in vegetables,meats and dairy products also shampoos they found many years ago that animal hormones in shampoos actually made girls hit puberty at age 8 and concluded that it only happened to black children if this does not wake up anyone to the fact that they do know you are living in never,never land.
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11-01-2010 @ 8:40AM
jenn said...so true, my daughter started gettings boobs in the third grade and def freaked me out.....she got her period this summer when she was barely 10 and i felt so bad for her, no swimming for a few days...but i guess thats life
Reply
11-01-2010 @ 11:20AM
aims said...You think maybe it's ALL the Hormone that is put into the animals you eat and the milk you drink. Chickens are given hormone to make the breast meat bigger cows are given hormones to produce more milk and all young girls are walking around with much bigger breast than in the 80's and 90's now little girls are developing breast. Buy organic and no hormone food. I bet the problem goes away. It's a no brainer here.
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11-01-2010 @ 9:10AM
lindalou0206 said...I truly believe girls are developing earlier because of all the hormones they are giving the animals.I became a vegetarian about 6 months ago for this same reason,add to that the fact that also give them steroids which messes with everyones minds and bodies,and the anti biotics which causes our bodies to become so immune to them that when we get sick,no antibiotic helps us get better.I feel so much btter now physically and mentally since I changed,I have lost 25 lbs in a matter of months and all the puffiness I felt before is gone,I also did it for ethical reasons,maybe if we all give up meat and all the poisons in them,we would all feel better.Then the FDA and all the doctors and insurance companies would be the ones suffering,not us or the animals.
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11-01-2010 @ 10:04AM
Mike Gallagher said...Processed foods, with all the added hormones, and of course no one knows for sure what farmers are using on the crops that produce all of our non meat foods. Allergies are spinning out of control. Maybe the President should get his administration to start correcting this very serious problem.
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11-01-2010 @ 9:45AM
Hey, Dennis said...Residue from bovine growth hormones in ordinary dairy products are a factor. Switch to organic dairy products.
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11-01-2010 @ 9:35AM
hoverZero said...I think it's b/c of the latest trends in female pop mixed with gay male acts. Yes, I'm saying the gay in media are putting off gay hormones!
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11-01-2010 @ 9:37AM
Beverly said...This is seriously something that should be looked into. What are we doing to our children? Farmers putting hormones into animals, don't you think that is being passed on to the people that eat them. Who cares about retailers, time to find out what the problem is to the little ones.
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11-01-2010 @ 1:32PM
jenP said...Don't let your daughter have such a high body fat % and it won't happen. Believe me. The athletic, thin girls are not going through puberty early. Apparently this isn't effecting boys but researchers have a hard time determining when boys actually start puberty. So I guess the best way to prevent it is to not feed your kids junk food.
11-01-2010 @ 9:41AM
dotdie said...If they are color coding us as in black girls and white girls why are they not saying brown girls?
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