M.D. One in seven Caucasian North American girls starts to develop breasts or pubic hair by age eight, and it's one in two for African American girls, according to an article in Time Magazine. Early puberty usually causes girls to end up very short because puberty stops them from growing. Because of her late puberty, she was allowed several extra years to grow.
Early puberty makes girls targets of jokes by their male classmates.
Worst of all, it makes them targets for older boys and male predators who will take away their youth with early sexual activity and prevent them from achieving goals that lead to success in later life, such as good grades in school, music and athletic endeavors. Most scientists feel that there is not enough good data to blame early breast formation on PCBs, DDT, phthalate in the plastics industry and other chemicals in our environment. On the other hand, there is strong evidence that being overweight and eating too many calories brings on premature puberty, while poor nutrition and starvation delay it. It is not reasonable to ask parents to delay puberty by withholding food. They can try vegetarianism which delays puberty somewhat, but the whole family must participate.