Girls May Be Starting Puberty Earlier Due to Chemical Exposure: Study + More
Girls May Be Starting Puberty Earlier Due to Chemical Exposure: Stud
Girls exposed to certain chemicals that are common ingredients in household products may be starting puberty comparatively early, a new study has found.
Substances of particular concern include musk ambrette — a fragrance used in some detergents, perfumes and personal care products — and a group of medications called cholinergic agonists, according to the study, published on Tuesday in Endocrinology.
These chemicals are all known as “hormone-disrupting” or “endocrine-disrupting” compounds, due to their tendency to block or interfere with hormone function in the body’s endocrine system.
To draw their conclusions, National Institutes of Health (NIH) researchers performed an initial screening of 10,000 environmental compounds and then studied the activities of select substances using lines of both rodent and human brain cells that control reproductive functions.
“Our team identified several substances that may contribute to early puberty in girls,” co-lead author Natalie Shaw, of the NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, said in a statement.
Weight-Loss Pill Saxenda Helps Kids as Young as 6
The weight-loss drug liraglutide helped obese children lower their BMI and reach a healthier weight, researchers report.
The findings, published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented simultaneously at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes annual meeting in Madrid, are the first to demonstrate the effects of liraglutide (Saxenda) on children ages 6 to 11.
“The results of this study offer considerable promise to children living with obesity,” study author Dr. Claudia Fox, co-director of the Center for Pediatric Obesity Medicine at the University of Minnesota, said in a meeting news release.
“To date, children have had virtually no options for treating obesity. They have been told to ‘try harder’ with diet and exercise. Now, with the possibility of a medication that addresses the underlying physiology of obesity, there is hope that children living with obesity can live healthier, more productive lives.”
Most adults and children 12 and older can take newer weight-loss medicines like the GLP-1 drugs Wegovy and Zepbound, experts say, but younger children must rely on diet, exercise and counseling alone to lose weight.
Desperate Parents Turn to Magnetic Therapy to Help Kids With Autism: There’s Little Evidence
Thomas VanCott compares his son Jake’s experience with autism to life on a tightrope.
Upset the delicate balance and Jake, 18, plunges into frustration, slapping himself and twisting his neck in seemingly painful ways.
Like many families with children on the autism spectrum, Jake’s parents sought treatments beyond traditional speech and behavioral therapies.
One that seemed promising was magnetic e-resonance therapy, or MERT, a magnetic brain stimulation therapy trademarked in 2016 by a Newport Beach-based company called Wave Neuroscience.
The company licensed MERT to private clinics across the country that offered it as a therapy for conditions including depression, PTSD and autism.
Those clinics described MERT as a noninvasive innovation that could improve an autistic child’s sleep, social skills and — most attractive to the VanCott family — speech. Jake is minimally verbal.
It was expensive — $9,000 — and not covered by insurance. “It’s too much for most things,” VanCott said, “but not for the potential of my child speaking.”
Instead of Banning Kids From Online Spaces, Here’s What We Should Offer Them Instead
Banning children under 16 from social media sounds like a seductive idea. For overwhelmed parents navigating their kids’ lives in a digital age, this move from the Australian government may seem like welcome relief.
But evidence shows it’s highly unlikely bans will positively impact the youth mental health crisis in this country. Indeed, bans may make our children even more vulnerable online.
Children and young people go online primarily to socialize with their peers. Online spaces are one of the few avenues our overscheduled children have to interact freely with each other, which is crucial for their wellbeing.
A social media ban will close down this avenue and force children into lower-quality online environments. Children already say adults don’t understand what they do online and are underequipped to support them.
A blanket ban affirms parents “don’t get it.” Kids will find ways to get around the ban. And if their interactions turn sour on social media, the fact they were not supposed to be there will make it more difficult to reach out to adults for help
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