Hormone imbalance can occur in women at any point in their lives, but as young women are maturing earlier it can bring problems much sooner.
Studies have shown that the average age of puberty is falling fast. Phytoestrogens present in food are boosting oestrogen levels in the population at large and could partly explain this phenomenon in young women.
It may seem completely arbitrary, but according to a new UK study it is genetics that are the key to the age at which girls start their periods.
The Saban Research Institute of the Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles found that the age when a child enters puberty is the primary influence on their bone mineral density, or bone strength, as an adult.
Scientists have discovered 30 new genes that control the age of sexual maturation in women and many of them also act on body weight regulation or biological pathways related to fat metabolism.
Teenage girls may not become overweight or obese but still be at risk
Phenols, phthalates and phytoestrogens can disrupt the timing of pubertal development, and put girls at risk of health complications later in life.