Premature breast development

Research and developed by Sarah (Steve) Mosko, Ph.D.
Updated Nov. 2004. For references click here.

Puerto Rican girls have the highest known incidence of premature breast development or thelarche (< 8 yrs of age, even toddlers). Puerto Rican girls with precocious thelarche have high blood levels of DEHP and other phthalates with estrogenic activity compared to other girls.(19) High importation of foods packaged in plastics is posited to play a role in the excessive phthalate exposure. Plasticizers also have been suspected as contributors to an earlier age onset of pubertal characteristics noted in a large-scale 1997 study of girls in the U.S.(20)