Catapulted into puberty: What every parent should know There's a cliché about kids: "They grow up too fast." And now studies are revealing that this could be much more than a mere turn of phrase-it could be a physiological truth, especially for girls. Many medical groups and associations are documenting the undeniable fact that young girls are beginning puberty earlier than ever. Girls as young as eight and nine years old are showing the beginnings of breast development - the initial outward evidence that puberty has begun. The problem is so widespread that many medical associations are lobbying to re-define the definition of what constitutes "normal" female development. Yet it's still unknown what's causing this early on-set of puberty. What this trend means for the future health of these girls early developing girls is anyone's guess. Parents who've been wrestling with this issue are blaming environmental chemicals, while endocrinologists and pediatricians are grouping this problem together with the pediatric obesity crisis. Theories, of course, abound. And I have a few of my own. To my mind, there are two culprits for this trend that come immediately to my mind. The first is the insidious non-food that's continually being foisted upon all of us: soy. Besides being nearly devoid of nutritional value, soy also has an incredibly high estrogen content. And for now I'll just leave aside the fact that soy has also been linked to breast cancer, sexual abnormalities, thyroid conditions, and even leukemia (that's a story for another day). Speaking of "sexual abnormalities," as little as a decade ago, an eight-year-old girl showing signs of breast development would have been considered so incredibly abnormal that it's likely her pediatrician would have immediately called in an endocrinologist to consult on the case. Today, it's being redefined as "normal." The other possible cause of this trend could be the increased amount of hormones in our meat supply. I've written before dispelling the myth that an increased amount of testosterone could be a factor in breast cancer. But hormones could well be at fault for helping to rocket our daughters into adult hood many years ahead of their time. The hormone argument just makes sense. Hormones are in meat and milk (which many eight-year-olds consume by the gallon). A young, growing body will seize on those hormones and put them to work. It's up to the parents to try and limit their child's intake of these things. Baby girls should be steered toward hormone-free milk and meat practically from birth. Or before you know it, they'll be all grown up … before they're even 10. As if to prove that some doctors will study anything, a new study reveals that couples who argue less (theoretically suppressing their anger) have a mortality rate that's double that of couples that exhibit a little more backbone. The study links suppressed anger to an increase in stress-based ailments such as heart disease and high blood pressure. Would the divorce rate be higher for those that live longer? The study neglects to say. I write about a lot of studies. But every once in a while I'll come across one like this, that bases its conclusion on the most specious logic you can imagine. Is there a relationship between stress and mortality? Of course there is. But the "researchers" behind this study have built their premise on the questionnaires that polled 192 couples over a space of 17 years. There are so many other factors that could have determined the fates of the people being surveyed that it's incredible to me that the authors of this study could have published it with a straight face. Of course, my wife found this article insightful. I'm going to tell her exactly how I feel about that … solely in the interest of my health, of course. | 
