<B>EARLY SIGNS OF PUBERTY EVIDENT</B><P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>WASHINGTON (AP) - Parents come to Dr. Gilbert August mystified: Their little girls, around age 8 and sometimes younger, already are showing unmistakable signs of puberty.<P>``They say, 'My God, she's too young, do something,''' August says.<P>Endocrinologists say they're seeing more girls with precocious sexual development, and some medical studies suggest the baffling trend is real, that the beginning signs of puberty are showing up earlier in today's girls than their mothers.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><BR><A HREF="http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010212/hl/early_puberty_1.html" TARGET=_blank><B>MORE...</B></A>

Only recently (well, fairly recently) has there been found a linkage in fat cells of the female body and the production of estrogen. This can become quite a problem for people (like dancers) who tend to be slender. <P>There has also been some question as to the artificial delivery (pills and dermal patches) of estrogen and its leakage into the food and water supply and how this affects not only females - but also males.

I experienced menarche when I was 11 years old (I'm 18 now), something my doctor called "mystifying" because I was already 5'5", less than 100 pounds, and "blessed" with a 36B chest. He couldn't understand why my body had chosen to blossom at such an early age.<P>One of my former piano students just turned 10 years of age. She has had her period constantly for 9 months, something which her doctor states is "normal" because girls are maturing more quickly than usual these days.<P>Is this "evolution" of some sort?<p>[This message has been edited by Bree (edited February 13, 2001).]

Yeah, it's evolution.<P>And it's "more" than common. It's the norm now, as any mother that hosts "spend the night parties" knows.<P>On the "flip side" of the coin is not only do women "mature" more early than they used to, but the ones that DO have to deal with birth control until a MUCH later age.<P>My Dr. told me that "the earlier you start" the later you finish it up.<P>Doesn't THAT sound like a drag????

Question for you medical folks - does starting your period earlier mean you have a greater (or lesser) chance of getting certain kinds of ovarian cancers? I have endometriosis, and my doctor said there may be a relationship between me getting my period so early in life and the disease. If that is true, then will this affect the young girls who are experiencing puberty even earlier in life?

Some of these questions are really questions for medical doctors, folks! But one thing I have heard--apparently early onset of puberty is partially caused by better nutrition. Let's hope we can stay with that "theme" and encourage good nutrition for dancers-none of those "all-yogurt and wheat germ diets," please! (smile) Diets incporating all the major food groups, with lots of fruits and vegetables (do I sound like your mother, or what??)are best in the long run!

I think Trina is right - medical doctors need to answer medical questions.<P>It is known that when there is a famine and the female population falls below a certain level of body fat - conception rates fall. Which makes sense.

In the 19th century girls typically matured at about 18. Better nutrition in the 20th c. brought the average age, in the US (and probably in other Western, developed countries as well) down to about 12 1/2 years. Obviously diet played a great part in the earlier onset. However, there were always exceptions. I know someone, now in her early 60s, who told me she started menstruating at 9. Interestingly, she had spent her early childhoood in war-torn France, so had poor nutrition for about the first 6 years of her life.<P>There are numerous theories for the earlier onset: exposure to hormones in the food we eat, earlier exposure to sexual material - and I don't mean XXX-rated stuff - I mean the stuff that's around us every day, pressure from society for a child to be interested in the opposite sex at an earlier age, as well as dietary changes.<P>As far as cancers go, current theory is that the longer a woman is exposed to estrogen, the higher her risk of breast cancer. (This is why there was/is so much controversy over women taking hormone replacements after menopause.) Length of exposure is calculated based on when the girl started menarche to menopause - with time off for pregnancies. On the other hand estrogen can be protective against other problems - such as heart disease. Obviously genetics plays a role in these risks, and hopefully a woman's MD will get a good history in order to decide what treatments/options to recommend. Younger women should ask their mothers (and grandmothers) at what age menarche began and at what age they became menopausal.<P>Early puberty can be very stressful for girls - especially those who are interested in a career in dance, skating, gymnastics and other sports where puberty, and the physical changes that go with it, are all-too-frequently feared. <P>The physical changes can lead to significant body-image problems. I went to school with someone who was wearing a bra in the 4th grade. She was also very tall (at least 5'4" then - although she wound up only being about 5'10"). She had to have a letter from the principal of the school so that she would be admitted to children's events. Another friend, a ballet dancer, started to "mature" at the age of 10. By the time she was 16 she had, to ordinary eyes, the most beautiful body - but not in the ballet world, certainly not at the RBS, where she was a student. However, for those of you out there bemoaning a similar fate, she grew up, lost her "baby fat", and became very slim with "normal" (for a dancer) boobs. (Not, I hasten to add, through anorexia.)<P>Karen (P.T.)