msnbc.com contributor
updated 10 minutes ago
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The changes in Kiera’s body scared her parents. Though the 8-year-old seemed her usual chipper self, she’d started to develop headaches and acne. More alarming to her mom, Sharon, were the budding bosoms on Kiera’s thin little chest.
“I thought, she’s too young,” remembers the Pittsburgh mom. “She’s still fearful about sleeping by herself. An 8-year-old just isn’t mature enough to handle this.”
For Kiera, whose last name is being withheld to protect her privacy, it was all so embarrassing. None of her friends seemed to be experiencing what she was. When they asked about the acne and her expanding chest, Kiera was evasive. “I didn’t want to tell them what was going on,” says the Pittsburgh girl, now age 9. “So I had to kind of lie to them.”
When Kiera’s parents took their daughter to the doctor, he assured them that nothing was wrong with the girl. Kiera was simply starting puberty early.
As it turns out, puberty at age 7 or 8 isn’t so unusual these days. A new study, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, shows that more American girls are maturing earlier and earlier. Typically, U.S. girls hit puberty around age 10 or 11.
Exactly what this shift means for girls isn’t clear yet — either on a group or individual level.  But there are budding concerns. For instance, studies have linked an early start to menstruation with an elevated risk of bosom cancer. And other research has shown that girls who go through puberty early tend to have lower self-esteem and a poor body image. They are also more likely to engage in risky behaviors which can result in unplanned pregnancies, experts say.
The possible link to bosom cancer was what sparked the new study. To take a long-term look at the impact of puberty and other factors on bosom cancer, researchers enrolled 1,239 girls between the ages of 6 and 8 from three sites in the U.S.: New York’s East Harlem, the greater Cincinnati metropolitan area and the San Francisco Bay area.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38600414/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/


I hate to say this but this seems to defend the crazy senator Yerima supporters.

This aint news, I was sprouting br3asts at 7.

So the fact that a child's body has been 'stricken' by puberty means she's ripe for an agbaya's Pen!s?
Yerima's supporters still have no ground I must say

Did it strike her like thunder, as in she woke up and saw a chest-full of udara fruits?

slap1:

Did it strike her like thunder, as in she woke up and saw a chest-full of udara fruits?

Are u ppl sick?

this not news now! actually earlier ages of menarche have been linked with better nutrition in those countries but more importantly, 'evolution' is wats happenin, though like the sickle cell gene,i doubt this one has anything good bout it wit its predisposition to endometrial. ca

tollu:

This aint news, I was sprouting br3asts at 7.

So the fact that a child's body has been 'stricken' by puberty means she's ripe for an agbaya's Pen!s?
Yerima's supporters still have no ground I must say

Exactly!

nothin spesh/amazin about this piece of news.