Posted on 03/08/2005 12:43:01 AM PST by neverdem
REALLY?
THE FACTS - In 1997, when a large study found that girls were starting puberty sooner than usual, many Americans began to cast a suspicious eye on milk. Could artificial growth hormones that had been widely used on cows since 1993 be speeding development in children?
Sales of organic dairy products took off rapidly, but newer studies have found no link. Instead, if girls are maturing sooner, a notion some scientists still dispute, it may have more to do with obesity than milk.
The early puberty theory came from a study suggesting that many girls were developing breasts and pubic hair between 9 and 10, roughly a year early.
A substance given to cows to increase milk production, called recombinant bovine growth hormone, became a prime suspect. But Dr. Paul Kaplowitz, the author of "Early Puberty in Girls," said that the hormone, if it did make its way into milk, would have no effect. It must be injected, not digested, he said.
A study published in 2001, led by Dr. Kaplowitz, showed that girls who developed sooner tended to have higher body-mass indexes. It also said that the findings of the early puberty study coincided with a rise in nationwide rates of obesity.
THE BOTTOM LINE - Bovine growth hormones are not connected to the early onset of puberty in girls.
scitimes@nytimes.com
My aunt has two friends who are medical doctors. Their daughter started to develop very early. They took her to their pediatrician who asked them if they ate a lot of chicken. They said they did and the doctor said it could be the hormones they pump into the chicken.
Are the girls more developed or wearing clothes 3 sizes too small for their tubby bodies? When I was teaching jr high, I took my own little observaational pool and 25% of the girls were obese. I also know that girls wear super padded push up bras. Check out underwear at walmart when you are walking through. The undies are skimpy and the bras have 3 inches of padding in them.
I have heard that the hormones in chickens were messing up girls as well.
Has anyone else heard about this?
My husband and I talked about that after hearing the starting lineups at the 2 highschool football teams in our town. Their linemen were 200 to 240 pounds! My hubby was a 195 pound defensive end, 6'3" tall. He had to eat so much to weigh that much at the beginning of the season, only to lose 15 pounds the first couple of weeks. Steroid use would not surprise me now. It would sicken me to hear it, but not surprise me.
Just on a personal, old fuddy duddy note, if my mom, dad or any of their friends, not to mention the passle of aunts and uncles had seen me dressed as a majority of girls are today, I would have been looking into the padded panties and you could keep the padded bras. :D
Human beings do not need cow's milk for excellent nutrition. Injected synthetic hormones designed to make cows grow bigger sure do have an effect on people. The natural hormones of pregnant horses are given to millions of women in this country and around the world ever year so animal hormones do affect people.
I like nut milks. I've never been a big milk drinker.
BTW, estrogen is also a fat hormone, and I wonder if the reason why girls are maturing earlier is because many are also fat.
I am 34 and when given a year after childbirth, don't look that different that I did at 24 (I run my arse off!) and I still wouldn't wear that slutty stuff. I have 2 sons who will rue the day they bring home a girl who dresses like that. Not to mention what I would do to my daughter! LOL!
Yes, but I don't know if it's true or not.
I'm sure that's true, but milk is a great place to get it.
Injected synthetic hormones designed to make cows grow bigger sure do have an effect on people.
I'd like to see the studies. Natural sciences are not my forte and thus I am always willing to learn.
The natural hormones of pregnant horses are given to millions of women in this country and around the world ever year so animal hormones do affect people.
I think the natural hormones of pregnant horses are selected for that use precisely because they DO have that effect. But I'm not sure that establishes anything about BGH.
Have you paid for your storm windows yet?
One of my wife's friends freaked when the school sent her 9 year old daughter home because she had started her period. At 9 years old!
Hmm. Bet there is not any hormones in the calcium-enriched orange juice...
You said that bovine growth hormone doesn't affect humans, and I presented an example to you of how animal hormones can affect people. Believe whatever you want but a child drinking glasses of milk every day will get FAT, not to mention all the mucus that milk produces. Why drink milk and clog arteries when a child can drink something else more healthy?
There is a historical trend, going back to at least the early twentieth century, of the dropping of the average age of puberty. Probably related to improved nutrition and general health. Puberty used to be about 16.
A second factor may well be cultural. Early exposure to sexual stimuli and stimulation of sexuality in children can contribute to premature onset of puberty. It has been noted in the early maturation of children who experienced pre-pubertal sexual arousal by abusers.
Well, I'd like to see the scientific studies about BGH, I'm not aware of any. If the kid is moving around, they're not going to get fat, especially with 1% or skim, which also won't clog arteries.
That reminds me of a visit with my great-grandmother. It was just after the advent of the pantsuit - the one with the dress-like top which could also be worn as a mini-dress. My younger sister was wearing really short-shorts and I was wearing the dress half of a pantsuit.
"What is that you're wearing?" she asked my sister.
"Hot pants," she answered.
"Looks like your sister is wearing a hot dress," she quipped.
You can google bovine growth hormone and see for yourself, but no child of mine will be drinking milk. Not that mass produced junk in grocery stories anyway.
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