In spite of malnutrition and stunted growth common among children in most developing countries like Nigeria, female children are now reaching puberty at a younger age. Bukola Adebayo writes on experts‘ interpretation of this development and its implication on fertility. Bright, like most girls in her class, has all the attributes of an adolescent. Though she is barely eight years old and still in primary four in one of the private schools in Lagos, she is fast developing into an adult. At first glance, she looks like a full grown-up girl. But a closer observation reveals a young child who is quickly reaching puberty.
Investigations have revealed that in spite of the living conditions of a developing nation like Nigeria, more girls are reaching puberty faster than before. While the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English sees 14 years as a fairly normal age for a girl to reach puberty, findings show that Nigerian girls reach puberty these days as early as eight years.
Puberty, according to Longman, is the stage of physical development during which you change from a child to an adult and are able to have children. Today, it is no longer uncommon to see eight or nine--year olds developing Bosom buds.
Opinions of mothers vary on the implication of early puberty. While some have expressed concern over the development, others are not bothered. Those who are wary of the development fear that early onset of puberty may affect their children‘s fertility in the long run as those who reach puberty early might reach menopause early too.
But a mother, Mrs. Ololade Fowobaje, said, ” I was not worried when my first daughter started developing Bosom buds at eight since she‘s a bit over-weight and I believe because the world is changing, our growth will automatically be affected.”
Early maturation is now a global trend. A new study in paediatrics has found that the number of girls reaching puberty at the early ages of seven and eight is on the rise.
A study conducted at the Cincinnati‘s Children‘s Hospital in the United States that involved over 1200 young girls aged from six to eight years, and who resided in Cincinnati, East Harlem New York and San Francisco, showed that by the age of eight, 18 per cent of white females, 43 per cent of black females and 31 per cent of Latina females had already reached puberty.
Lead author and Director of Adolescent Medicine at the hospital, Dr. Frank Biro, identifies obesity, the type of diet being consumed and differing levels of exercise and activity as possible causes of this development. The researchers claimed the abundance of food compared to earlier times where malnutrition was more common could be another factor. Females in the 1700s did not start to menstruate till they were around 17 or 18 years of age.
Experts have said Nigerian girls were reaching puberty earlier than before because of changes in nutritional diet, hereditary and environmental factors which had become more predominant in the last two years.
According to the Consultant Gynaecologist with St. Ives Specialist Hospital, Ikeja, Lagos, Dr. Tunde Okewale, apart from Nigeria, globally the puberty age is dropping drastically.
Okewale describes puberty as the gradual change in the secondary characteristics of females which begins with Bosom development, growth of pubic hair, a spot of growth in height and menarche (first menstrual cycle).
He stated that these stages which should normally span between ages nine and 14 could be influenced by urbanisation, improved nutrition and imbalance of the female hormone (estrogen).
”It is a worldwide trend. Girls reach puberty as early as eight and nine. Although the standard of living is said to be dropping in Nigeria, children now eat more junk than they did in the past. A lot of foods that children eat these days are processed, that is, they are loaded with estrogenic chemicals. And high levels of estrogen will lead to early onset of puberty in females.
”It is also genetic, if a mother starts her menstruation early, her daughter is likely to inherit that naturally,” he said.
He added that early exposure to environmental wastes such as chemicals from plastic industries mostly in urban areas which contains estrogen could make children living in these areas reach puberty earlier than others.
Another, gynaecologist with Duro-Soleye Specialists Hospitals, Ikeja, Lagos, Dr. Ibrahim Olaifa, said early puberty which is associated with early menstruation can clearly be linked with nutritional and hereditary factors in the female.
”In the past two years, it has been observed that Nigerian girls are budding faster as early as eight to 10. A better nourished child has the requirements for growth and hormonal processes. An obese child will reach puberty earlier than the other girls,” he added.
However, these experts said although early puberty which is often associated with early menstruation ”in most cases is nothing to fret about, a child showing abnormal signs of puberty termed ‘precocious puberty‘ should still undergo a medical check-up by a gynaecologist or a family physician as it could be caused by an underlying medical problems.
Medically, Okewale said, ”Any onset of menstruation before the age of nine is slightly abnormal, it may not be a cause for worry, but a medical investigation should be conducted by a medical personnel to rule out medical problems.”
Olaifa said, ”Precocious puberty can be linked to pathological conditions of hormonal imbalance. It could be due to the presence of tumours in the ovary or the hypothalamus.”
Asked if early onset of puberty could pose fertility problems to these girls later in life, Okewale said that early puberty was yet to be linked with reduced fertility rate amongst women.
”A female is least fertile at the onset of puberty because most times menstruation is neither regular nor ovulatory yet. Her fertility also drops when she‘s approaching menopause or as she gets older. It is not correct that a girl that has early menarche will reach menopause faster. Women are most fertile between the ages of 20 and 30. Fertility decreases after then no matter the age the menstruation started,‘‘ he added.
Olaifa however explained that although early puberty had no significant effect on fertility in women, it could be a risk factor in developing fibroid.
”Females that start menstruating early have delayed menopause due to the high level of hormonal secretion in their bodies. Because they finish later, they accumulate more fatty deposits in their reproductive system, which is a risk factor in most fibroid cases,” he explained.
Socially, experts have said that early onset of puberty could pose some social problems to the females, who do not have the proper counselling and guidance from their parents as it had been found to increase cases of teenage pregnancies, segxwally-transmitted diseases and cervical cancer among teenagers in Nigeria.
Olaifa said, ”Early puberty comes with early segxwal exposure. Girls will be getting more attention from the opposite sex. Although they are not very fertile at that age, they can still conceive, resulting in frequent pregnancy terminations and early onset of cervical cancer.”
Okewale said, ”Early menstruation predisposes females to unwanted pregnancies. Most times, these teenagers engage in unprotected sex which exposes them to a lot of segxwally- Transmitted Diseases from men. Most of these STDs manifest later in the females leading to serious infertility problems.”
Speaking on the social challenges a female experiencing early puberty could be facing, Mrs. Ololade Hector-Fowobaje, a psychologist, who wrote a book, ”Many faces of segxwal Abuse,” urged parents to initiate sex education with their females as soon as they begin to show signs of puberty.
”Puberty starts mostly when the females are entering secondary school. At that stage the parents are helpless. The subject of segxwality should not be a taboo in any house. It is a vital part of parental teaching and training many ignore at their peril. Any form of education should begin at home and a comprehensive sex education should usher them into the secondary school,” she explained.
Olaifa urged parents to guide their girls by talking with them. ”Let them know it is not strange, it is expected although it could be challenging. Start talking with them as soon as they can identify the body parts that are growing. It should also be done gradually,” he advised.
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