Some Blossom Too Soon
Nearly every parent has, at one time or another, remarked that
their children grow up too quickly.
Then again, as a father of six children, I can tell you that
there have been many times when we wondered if they would ever grow up
quickly enough! Some
children begin physically maturing many years before it seems
appropriate. This is a medical condition called precocious puberty and it
affects about one out of every ten thousand children in the United
States. Usually sexual
development begins around age 11 in girls and 12 or 13 in boys but in
this particular condition sexual development may begin several years
before it would otherwise normally occur.
When sexual development begins prior to age 9 in girls and age
10 in boys it is generally considered precocious (premature).
There has been a trend in the United States wherein children,
especially girls, are entering puberty earlier than expected.
Some doctors believe that this premature development may result
from environmental toxins like PCB's, the long-lived chemicals that
were once used in the electric power industry.
They believe that these chemicals may stimulate the
reproductive development. Another
chemical pollutant in the food chain is a breakdown product of DDT,
the pesticide that was banned in the United States in 1972.
This breaks down to a product referred to as DDE and some
suspect that this may mimic some of the body’s hormones that play a
key role in the development of the reproductive system.
There has been much debate about whether other chemicals and hormones
in food may be involved. Some have been concerned about the hormones that are given to
help cattle grow bigger and that linger in the meat and milk products
of these animals. To
date, there are no studies that prove a definite link between these
environmental toxins, chemicals and hormones in food with precocious
puberty.
It seems that the consensus favors another theory.
We have long known that very overweight girls tend to mature
earlier than very thin girls do and young women with poor nutrition
tend to mature much later than normal.
Consequently, some believe that obesity may be the cause of
this premature development. Fat
cells produce a protein called leptin and this is necessary for the
progression of puberty. Also,
overweight individuals have more circulating insulin in their blood
and insulin appears to stimulate the production of sex hormones in the
ovaries and adrenal glands. There
are no definite studies at this time confirming any of these theories.
Precocious puberty requires medical attention to be certain that there
is not a tumor or other medical condition responsible for this.
When these other conditions are ruled out the goal is to halt,
and even reverse, some of the premature sexual development.
A new synthetic hormonal therapy for precocious puberty has
been used with remarkable success.
This hormone, luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH),
blocks the chain of normal hormonal events involved in
sexual maturation. Although
the long-term effects of LH-RH therapy are unknown, there have been no
adverse short-term effects in patients treated for precocious puberty.
When a child with precocious puberty reaches an appropriate age
for puberty the medication may be discontinued and normal sexual
development resumes. |
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