Could diet impact the timing of puberty?

Did you know that a child's nutritional status has a significant effect on pubertal development, and can explain as much as 25% of the variation in the timing of puberty? Until recently, I didn't! Over-nutrition and obesity are posed as trigger to early pubertal onset, but there are also profound epigenetic alterations that can occur with under-nutrition and malnourishment during childhood and adolescence.

Epigenetics, as many of you would be aware, is the field of medicine which explores the impact and influence of diet, environment and lifestyle on gene expression.

And you know what else? Even though it can be modified by changes in nutrition, body size and composition in childhood, the timing of puberty for boys and girls may be set in utero or early in life for some children.

This means dietary, lifestyle and environmental exposures during pregancy and the post-partum period are especially impactful when it comes to pubertal timing.

From an environmental perspective, a significant relationship has been found between intrauterine exposure to high doses of PBB pesticides and early breast development and puberty in girls; and Bisphenol A/ BPA (a chemical found in many plastic products), has also been suggested to have oestrogenic effects causing precocious, or early onset, puberty. Heavy metals, especially Lead, has on the other hand been associated with delayed puberty and menstruation. Interestingly, breastfeeding has been shown however to prevent early pubertal health outcomes, and promote positive metabolic and hormonal outcomes later in life.

Right from conception, our genes, hormones and metabolism is being impacted by the world around us.

Over or under nutrition during critical windows of development, micro and macronutrient imbalances, exposure to toxins and harmful chemicals, movement, our emotional wellbeing and even our sleep patterns all shape us in ways that we're yet to fully comprehend.

There is so much to unpack when it comes to environmental exposures and epigenetic influences, and with multiple exposures simultaneously and complex environmental factors at play it becomes even more difficult, but the evidence to date is unsettling. Very importantly though, we know that a nourishing diet and healthy lifestyle can offer protection against environmental exposures that are, at times, completely out of our control (and remember, there are many MANY ways to reduce the toxicity load of your personal environment which is wonderful too!).