The rise of obesity among children is not only causing alarm in the long term effects of the unhealthy weight gain against any child's organs. Recent studies have linked obesity in children to premature puberty.
The age when secondary sex characteristics start to surface has been found to be in decline, thus children's bodies were developing faster compared to a few decades ago.
Female children are having their first menstrual period around the age of 10 to 12. At the beginning of the 20th century, according to researchers, a female's first menstrual period does not take place until the age of 14 to 16.
Breast budding has also appeared to take place way earlier in today's female youth than it was decades ago. Today, a lot of female children are observed to show signs of breast budding around the age of 10 when during the 1960 the change does not take place until around the age of 13.
As a matter of fact, doctors have reported cases where girls as young as 7 to 8 years old already have their breasts developing. What's more alarming is that there are doctors who are studying inner-city children is that there are second graders who are observed to start menstruating.
Observing the decline in puberty age for boys is somewhat a different case since there is little physical change that can be observed. "Voice breaking", however, presents an avenue to assess.
In an observation done on boys in voice choirs, around 1960 voice breaking takes place sometime during the age of 13. Nowadays, it has been observed that voice breaking in boys is starting to take place as early as the age of 10.
The early onset of puberty in today's children causes alarm in health officials and youth health concerned bodies because several studies have linked early puberty to a wide range of behavioral and psychological issues.
These children's bodies are developing so fast their psychological and emotional functions cannot cope. This paves way to depression, substance abuse, poor academic performance and even early and unsafe sex.
