[elegantlywasted (OP)]

I don't know how much weight should be given to these news sources, but please check out these articles:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=508020&in_page_id=1879&ICO=FEMAIL&ICL=TOPART
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,322475,00.html
http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=176452&command=displayContent&sourceNode=134483&contentPK=19545297&folderPk=78482&pNodeId=134462

Now this must be a wake up call for a lot of people that something is not right. Children as young as 9 or 10 entering puberty is no longer abnormal. This is a serious problem.

Comments?

[Karen W.]

It is young but I have seen this myself many times and as far as a girl starting her period at 8 or nine.. I have seen that also. Also spent 9 months of my first pregnancy in the doctors office having monthly checks with a young girl who was 9 years old and carrying her first child.. Her mom was bringing her in and there was quite a story behind her pregnancy rather sad lack of supervision and what I would deem neglect and abuse.. as far as them not watching a child her age and the people she was with.. Very sad.. She had a very scary delivery and hemmoraged quite badly... delivered a beautiful little boy! Healthy and bright. She was a very matured young lady(child) By the end of the pregnancy!

[another_someone]

There are various medical issues that can trigger Precocious Puberty, but I am not sure that examples of girls of 3 years old entering puberty can be seen as necessarily related to the trend for puberty to be falling to 9 or 10 years of age.

One of the interesting issues (but not the only suggested issue) that Wiki seems to raise about reduced age at puberty (not precocious puberty) is the influence of smaller family sizes (having older siblings in the home may delay puberty so as to reduce sexual competition between the sisters).

Certainly, a more nutritious diet would allow for earlier puberty.

[opus]

could hormones in the food chain be a possible factor...?

[another_someone]

could hormones in the food chain be a possible factor...?

It has been suggested, but as yet, if there is any role in that is not at all clear.  It seems very unlikely to me to be the sole factor.

One issue to ask is what is meant by 'hormones in the food chain'.  What is commonly meant is actual chemicals that directly act to mimic oestrogen; but what has also been mention is that hormones require fats for their production, so higher levels of fat in the diet can itself stimulate greater amounts of oestrogen (and other hormone) production.

Another factor that is mentioned in Wiki, and makes great sense, is early stress in life - emotional stress itself stimulates various hormone productions, and will effect such things as growth height, so why not the onset of puberty?

Another factor is that it is generally regarded that in most Western societies there is an increase in comparable IQ in the population over time; yet IQ itself is associated with prenatal testosterone levels (this is not oestrogen, but testosterone - but even though they are separate hormones, they are similar and interlinked).

[opus]

do kids with precocious puberty show a tendency towards high IQ's   ?

[another_someone]

do kids with precocious puberty show a tendency towards high IQ's   ?

Not sure the relationship would be that simple; but more specifically, I don't think you can associate precocious puberty (of which I don't know there is any evidence as to whether there is any long term trend in) and the long term gradual reduction in age at puberty.

[opus]

Can anti-androgens help halt development at all?

[another_someone]

http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=12421.0

The median age of menarche in contemporary British teenagers is around 13 years. In our study geographical, social, and ethnic variations were small, suggesting that non-response bias in menarcheal age was likely to be limited. Comparison with British girls born between 1950 and 1965 (table) suggests that the median menarcheal age reported here is close to or slightly below the earlier findings. Two points emerge clearly from the results. Firstly, any decrease in average menarcheal age during the past 20-30 years has been small (almost certainly less than six months), particularly when compared with the reduction of a year or more that occurred in many European countries (including Britain) between the late 19th and mid 20th centuries.  Secondly, even though no appreciable recent decrease in menarcheal age has occurred, almost one girl in eight reaches menarche while still at primary school. This needs to be taken into account when providing sanitary facilities and health information for female pupils in primary school.