281-SYNCPodcast_Puberty

[00:00:00] Jenny Swisher: Welcome friends to this episode of the Sync Your Life podcast. Today we’re diving into the topic of why young girls are getting their periods earlier than ever. As a mom of two girls myself, this topic intrigues me, and I know other moms are wondering, what’s with the earlier start to puberty in young girls?

[00:01:14] Jenny Swisher: To kick this off, did you know that in 1980, the average age for a girl to start menses was age 14? Fun fact, I started my period at 14, just three months shy of my 15th birthday. Did you know that now, in 2024, the average age of menses is just 11 years old? Yep, 11. With some cases of menses occurring as young as age 9.

[00:01:35] Jenny Swisher: So what’s going on here? Why is this happening, and what can we do about it? Well, to cut to the chase, it has largely to do with endocrine disruption. The world around us is full of so many hormone disrupting chemicals, from fragrances to phthalates to plastics and more. These endocrine disruptors act as hormones in our body, throwing off our body’s natural hormones and causing hormone imbalance, often from even an early age.

[00:01:58] Jenny Swisher: Throw in the craze right now surrounding things like Sephora and Bath Body Works, and you get a perfect storm of endocrine disruption and young girls hormones gone wild. This weekend, we just hosted my daughter’s 8th birthday party, and in the middle of the party, one of the little girls shouted, Who wants to go to Sephora after this?

[00:02:13] Jenny Swisher: And the whole room of 8 year old girls shouted, Me! Me! Me! For the record, I took my daughter through Sephora, per her request, last spring, and I educated her on the fact that in our house, we choose non endocrine disrupting products. I know I will have to continue this education as she gets older, because truly, this stuff is all the rage right now.

[00:02:32] Jenny Swisher: So what type of research has been done in this space? Well, according to Dr. Lara Bryden, there’s been a development in the ongoing discussion about the falling age of female puberty. Scientists have identified musk ambrette, which is a synthetic fragrance, as a strong stimulator of cispeptin receptors in the hypothalamus, and a potential driver of early puberty.

[00:02:50] Jenny Swisher: Musk ambrette use has been restricted by several regulations because of its toxicity, said one scientist, yet it is still available on the market and still used in many inferior personal care products. Oftentimes this particular scent is just listed as fragrance on the bottle, so there’s never really a true way of knowing if it’s in a particular perfume.

[00:03:09] Jenny Swisher: There’s no control over how ingredients of skin care and fragrances are listed, which is such a disservice to our health. A 2024 study published in JAMA reports that based on data collected from more than 71, 000 women enrolled through the Apple Research app on their iPhones, who were asked to recall when they first started menstruating, the researchers found that on average, menstruation was starting at 11.

[00:03:30] Jenny Swisher: 9 years of age. What’s more important, the percentage of girls getting their period before the age of 11 grew from 8. 6 percent to 15. 5%, and those who began menstruation before age 9 more than doubled. This study found this trend toward earlier periods across all demographics, but it was much more pronounced among girls from racial and ethnic minorities and those from lower incomes.

[00:03:54] Jenny Swisher: Researchers say understanding changing trends in menstruation is important, because menstruation is a vital sign for health. Does that sound familiar? The study also found more girls are taking longer to reach regular menstrual cycles. Irregular menstrual cycles are associated with several health conditions, including PCOS, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and an earlier age of first menstruation is linked to several adverse health outcomes, including a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity, miscarriage, and early death.

[00:04:22] Jenny Swisher: It’s also linked to several cancers, including ovarian, endometrial, and breast cancer. Quote, if someone reaches their first period before the age of 12, they are at a 20 percent increased risk for breast cancer, says Dr. Houghton. According to the Environmental Working Group, laboratory tests reveal adolescent girls across America are contaminated with chemicals commonly used in cosmetics and body care products.

[00:04:45] Jenny Swisher: The EWG detected 16 chemicals from four chemical families, phthalates, triclosan, parabens, and musks. in blood and urine samples from 20 teen girls aged 14 to 19. Studies link these chemicals to potential health effects including cancer and hormone disruption. These tests feature first ever exposure data for parabens in teens and indicate that young women are widely exposed to this common class of cosmetic preservatives with two parabens, methylparaben detected in every single girl tested.

[00:05:16] Jenny Swisher: Teen study participants used an average of nearly 17 personal care products each day, while the average adult woman uses just 12 products a day. Still, quite a bit. Thus, teens may unknowingly expose themselves to higher levels of cosmetic ingredients linked to potential health effects at a time when their bodies are more susceptible to chemical damage.

[00:05:36] Jenny Swisher: This means that the average teenage girl is applying over 200 chemicals to her body on a daily basis through personal care products. This is insanity. So what can we do to lessen the toxic burden and course correct the trajectory of this path? Well, my friends, it starts within the home. The things that we put in on and around our bodies matter so much.

[00:05:59] Jenny Swisher: If you’re allowing your young girl to use skincare or fragrances, check their toxicity score at ewg. org and make simple swaps where you can. I will link up for you in the show notes, my very favorite hue and gray skincare that my family and I use. which is all third party tested for endocrine disruption and made entirely of natural, non toxic ingredients.

[00:06:19] Jenny Swisher: I allow my 4 year old and my 8 year old to use any of our body butters, our skin serums, and our body oil because I know that they’re good for their skin and they’re not hormone disrupting. In addition to making these swaps, we can also help our kids to live a healthy lifestyle.

[00:06:32] Jenny Swisher: Regular exercise, proper sleep, and even eating fruits and vegetables can help optimize their bodies to naturally fight endocrine toxins. And on a larger scale, the EWG suggests the following. Must set comprehensive safety standards for cosmetics and other personal care products.

[00:06:48] Jenny Swisher: Amen to that. Teens should make healthy choices for themselves by reducing the number of products they use, and by using their shopper’s guide to safe cosmetics to clean, safer products. And companies must reformulate products to protect consumers from exposure to potentially toxic chemicals, untested ingredients, and noxious impurities.

[00:07:07] Jenny Swisher: Amen, again. I will make sure I link up for you in the show notes the Shopper’s Guide to Safe Cosmetics and the EWG website so that you can have that at your disposal. I couldn’t agree more with this. Something has to be done here. The impact of endocrine disruption is all around us, impacting us at all ages.

[00:07:23] Jenny Swisher: Just recently, I logged into my PollenWise app to see the ragweed levels in my area because I have some severe ragweed allergies in the fall, and I was alarmed to find that the number one allergen in the air near me was plastic particles. Plastic particles. Plastic particles are showing up in the testicles of men, affecting sperm count.

[00:07:41] Jenny Swisher: Plastic particles are showing up in our lungs from the air that we’re breathing in. According to an NYU and a report published in the Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology Journal, Dr. Trisandi and his team showed that the annual healthcare costs and lost earnings in the U. S. that can be attributed to low level daily exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals exceeds 340 billion.

[00:08:02] Jenny Swisher: As the mom of two young girls, this terrifies me. When I was shopping recently, I walked past the Bath Body Works, and the smell coming from the store literally gave me a headache. Yet, the store was full of teenage girls and young moms loading up on the recent sale. There is a better way, friends, and again, it starts in the home.

[00:08:20] Jenny Swisher: Making these simple swaps, educating our children, and lessening our toxic load, one product at a time. Friends, I hope this is helpful. Share this out to your friends, spread the message that girls should not be starting puberty as early as age 9. There are some definite health ramifications as a result.

[00:08:37] Jenny Swisher: We have enough research to know that endocrine disruption is a primary cause. And as I always say, once women know better, we can do better and it’s time to do better for ourselves and for our children. Thank you so much for tuning in, my friends. Until next time, we’ll talk soon.