Many worried parents approach me with a common issue of their daughter’s reaching or showing signs of reaching puberty earlier and earlier these days.
Most parents believe that it’s the way things are these days, and some believe that the hormones in several foods, especially milk causes this to happen.
The scary part is, people are beginning to accept it as a normal phenomenon.
Well, here’s the truth. Accepting it is the easy way out and blinds us from really understanding why this is happening and what we can do to arrest this now.
This can be controlled to a large extent by parents.
Yes, added hormones in foods are a large reason why this happens in girls and boys. Testosterone levels in boys get accelerated and can be linked with violence, irritability, anger, depression and a feeling of lack of self worth.
Studies have found that girls who mature early are more likely to be influenced by older friends, start having sex sooner and have more problems with low self-esteem and depression.
Just because you're developing more quickly physically doesn't mean you're maturing emotionally or socially.
Plus, early puberty has been tied to long-term health risks. For women, an earlier start to menstruation has been linked to a heightened risk of breast cancer. It's not clear why, but some researchers suspect that greater lifetime exposure to estrogen might be one reason.
Earlier puberty also has been tied to increased risks of high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes in adulthood.
I encourage all parents to be mindful of their children’s weight, especially girls. Im talking ages 4, 5, 6, and above. This may sound extreme, but it’s important you monitor your child’s weight.
One of the main reasons of this early puberty is this. Kids today have so much access to junk food; they spend more time being inactive in front of the TV, video games etc, and their weight creeps up.
Now here is what you need to understand.
As their weight increases at this young age, the body produces a hormone called leptin.
When leptin increases due to increased weight, it signals the hypoyhalmus ( in the brain ) a simple message. The childs body weight is now where it needs to be to kick start puberty, and that’s how it hits the child, irrespective of age. So if your child s gaining weight faster than usual, it's going to kick in naturally.It's the way the body works.
Increased weight triggers of leptin, which signals the brain that the childs body is ready for puberty.
This is why I strongly encourage parents, go easy on the junk and sugar, you must build more physical activity in your kids lives. There has to be a certain amount of discipline, no matter what.
Packaged foods with long ingredient labels, should not be purchased. They contain hormone altering ingredients.
Foods like soy that may be genetically modified should be avoided completely.
I strongly suggest a shift from milk to yogurt, which anyway has more calcium and protein and probiotics than milk.
Add in more fruits and veggies. This is so important. If you do allow your kids junk, insist that they have something healthy with or after it.
Early puberty, especially in girls brings about a lot of hormonal imbalance that can affect body function, development, emotions, thinking and behavior.
Most parents believe that it’s the way things are these days, and some believe that the hormones in several foods, especially milk causes this to happen.
The scary part is, people are beginning to accept it as a normal phenomenon.
Well, here’s the truth. Accepting it is the easy way out and blinds us from really understanding why this is happening and what we can do to arrest this now.
This can be controlled to a large extent by parents.
Yes, added hormones in foods are a large reason why this happens in girls and boys. Testosterone levels in boys get accelerated and can be linked with violence, irritability, anger, depression and a feeling of lack of self worth.
Studies have found that girls who mature early are more likely to be influenced by older friends, start having sex sooner and have more problems with low self-esteem and depression.
Just because you're developing more quickly physically doesn't mean you're maturing emotionally or socially.
Plus, early puberty has been tied to long-term health risks. For women, an earlier start to menstruation has been linked to a heightened risk of breast cancer. It's not clear why, but some researchers suspect that greater lifetime exposure to estrogen might be one reason.
Earlier puberty also has been tied to increased risks of high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes in adulthood.
I encourage all parents to be mindful of their children’s weight, especially girls. Im talking ages 4, 5, 6, and above. This may sound extreme, but it’s important you monitor your child’s weight.
One of the main reasons of this early puberty is this. Kids today have so much access to junk food; they spend more time being inactive in front of the TV, video games etc, and their weight creeps up.
Now here is what you need to understand.
As their weight increases at this young age, the body produces a hormone called leptin.
When leptin increases due to increased weight, it signals the hypoyhalmus ( in the brain ) a simple message. The childs body weight is now where it needs to be to kick start puberty, and that’s how it hits the child, irrespective of age. So if your child s gaining weight faster than usual, it's going to kick in naturally.It's the way the body works.
Increased weight triggers of leptin, which signals the brain that the childs body is ready for puberty.
This is why I strongly encourage parents, go easy on the junk and sugar, you must build more physical activity in your kids lives. There has to be a certain amount of discipline, no matter what.
Packaged foods with long ingredient labels, should not be purchased. They contain hormone altering ingredients.
Foods like soy that may be genetically modified should be avoided completely.
I strongly suggest a shift from milk to yogurt, which anyway has more calcium and protein and probiotics than milk.
Add in more fruits and veggies. This is so important. If you do allow your kids junk, insist that they have something healthy with or after it.
Early puberty, especially in girls brings about a lot of hormonal imbalance that can affect body function, development, emotions, thinking and behavior.
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