Puberty

Girls in Britain, and throughout the developed world, have been reaching puberty at a younger and younger age. The latest results from research conducted by Professor Anders Juul of Copenhagen University, a paediatric endocrinologist, showed that between 1991 and 2006 the average age of breast development – the first sign of impending puberty in girls – has come down from 10.88 to 9.86 years.

Educational Psychologist, Madelene Portwood of Durham University, says: “Young children should be concentrating on friendship and education.” And reaching puberty at an earlier age adds to the pressure on them to behave like adults.

Over the past 15 years, girls have started having periods three months earlier; boys have also started developing earlier at 11.66 years. Luckily though, Professor David Bainbridge, a Cambridge University zoologist and author of Teenagers: A Natural History explains that the earlier age of puberty is not, in itself, a reason to panic. “It is the result of a better diet. Puberty is triggered by GnRH (gonadotrophin-releasing hormone). This affects the pituitary gland, which releases neurotransmitters acting directly on the ovaries or testicles.”

There also seems to be an age below which puberty does not begin. In the Netherlands – Europe’s tallest nation – the age of first periods in girls has reached a stable level at around 13 years old. That is likely to happen here, too.

There are various potential reasons being investigated as to why children are reaching puberty earlier and earlier. The pollution of drinking water by oestrogens found in the contraceptive pill could be one factor in this change in our biological clocks, but Professor Richard Sharpe of the Medical Research Council’s Human Reproductive Sciences Unit in Edinburgh, points out that water is carbon-filtered before it returns to the tap, and that very little oestrogen remains. Naturally occurring plant (phyto-) oestrogens could also be responsible. Another possible factor is parabens – preservatives found in most shampoos and sun tan lotions, but not used in any of our Oy! or Green People products.

Whatever is causing premature breast development and other anatomical anomalies, more and more children are suffering the embarrassment of looking more like adults while they are still at primary school. Children in adult bodies find it confusing, and the pressures now to act adult are greater.

Professor Portwood explains that “emotionally they (children) are more vulnerable than they were 20 years ago. When they used to stick with the same group of friends from nursery to secondary school, they had more support. Now they move more, and the extended family is not often around, we are seeing an increasing incidence of mental health issues, including anorexia and teen suicide.”

Professor Portwood believes primary schools need school counsellors to help children who are confused by looking older than they are. Parents, too, should be careful not to treat them as teenagers. “They need to look at their emotional, not their physical, development. Children of 10, 11 and 12 may look grown-up, but they shouldn’t be treated as young adults or allowed to wear adult clothes.”

The Oy! range from Green People is a skin care range young people - those both approaching their teens and those already teenagers. It is made with natural and organic plant extracts and no hormone-mimicking ingredients. You can enjoy these fab products no matter what your age, and they really look after your skin – like the Oy! Face the Sun, which gives natural SPF15 sun protection.