High-calorie food speeds up the maturation of modern girls
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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Scientists believe that a decrease in the age at which girls have their first menstrual period is not least connected with a modern high-calorie diet. Unfortunately, the abundance of calories does not contribute to the same acceleration in the development of the nervous system.
According to statistics, for the last 150 years the age of puberty in women has decreased by 4 years : the first menstruation is now not in 12, but at 8 years. To understand why puberty has accelerated so quickly, at first glance, it is impossible: the process depends on hundreds of factors, from purely genetic and ending with geographic and ecological ones. Still, researchers at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, United States, were fortunate in some ways: they were able to identify at least one specific cause of accelerated puberty, and the reason is food.
Scientists drew attention to the fact that over the past 30 years, similar changes have occurred with rhesus monkeys from the National Center for Primate Research in Wisconsin. Monkey females were gaining weight faster and becoming ready to multiply. The physiology of rhesus monkeys is very similar to ours, and scientists decided to investigate the phenomenon of accelerated maturation on them. Moreover, environmental factors in experiments with animals are amenable to greater control, and it is not easier to find out the cause of these or other changes than in statistical human studies. In the case of monkeys for many years, scientists observed the behavior of animals, including food, and the table of macaques became more nutritious every year.
To test the hypothesis that it is the calories that cause the early ripeness of females, the zoologists put a simple experiment: they selected several young macaques and planted them on different diets - one for the ordinary, the other for the enriched one. When the monkeys entered the puberty period, those who ate better than the norm took 6-7 months, while the same animals that were on the usual diet - 12-14. The abundance of calories stimulated the synthesis of hormones leptin and somatomedine, which are involved in the build-up of muscles, bones and fatty tissue.
In general, large calories are the cause of acceleration; now it is proved experimentally, and the results of the work are published in the journal Endocrinology.
In this case, as the scientists assure, these data can be applied without any problems to a person. Perhaps, at first glance, there is no problem at all. But, firstly, scientists have some grounds to believe that early maturation is subsequently followed by a wide range of metabolic diseases, including diabetes. And secondly, accelerated puberty is not accompanied by the same acceleration in the development of the nervous system. Which, in turn, can be the cause of inadequate behavior and psychological disorders in the victims of acceleration. And it is still unknown what is more dangerous for the fragile child's psyche - horror on TV or McDonald's.
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