Many girls in the U.S. may be entering puberty at younger ages now than in previous decades, and obesity appears to be the major factor contributing to this shift, a new study finds.
The researchers looked at more than 1,200 girls ages 6 to 8 in the San Francisco area, the Cincinnati area and New York City, and examined them multiple times between 2004 and 2011. Entering puberty was defined as the age at which a girl’s breasts started to develop.
The results showed that white girls entered puberty on average at 9.7 years old, which is three to four months younger than the average age reported by scientists in a 1997 study, and much younger than the average age suggested by data from the 1960s.
Source: The Huffington Post
