Diet, porn lower puberty age in Chinese province

BEIJING: The onset of puberty in the affluent Chinese province of Guangdong has gone down by two years, a government survey shows. The average age of puberty has reached 11 years from the previous level of 13 years, data for the last 10 years show. The number of children reaching puberty early has doubled over the past 10 years, the Women and Children's Hospital of Guangdong, which conducted the survey, said. The doctors at the hospital said that preference to high-protein foods and wider exposure to pornography were some of the important reasons. Some girls as young as ten are experiencing the menstrual cycle, the survey said. Secondary sexual characteristics have started appearing in some boys who are just nine-and-a-half-years old while some girls have developed it before reaching the age of eight, it said. The hospital said that the reduction in the age of puberty in Gaungdong was faster compared to the national average over the last 10 years. The frequency of early puberty in this province rose 1.3 % last year as compared to the average growth of one per cent across the country. The annual rate of puberty advancement was 0.5 per cent 10 years ago in Gaungdong while it is 1.3% now. Zeng Ke, a doctor at the hospital, said rich foods and improper sex education were responsible for the early onset of puberty. There is a danger of children becoming sexually precocious if parents do not protect their children from the exposure to pornographic materials, he said.