Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Nov 24;14(23):5004.
doi: 10.3390/nu14235004.

Diet and Nutrients Intakes during Infancy and Childhood in Relation to Early Puberty: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Jingyi Tang  1   2   3 , Peng Xue  1   2   3 , Xiaoxia Huang  4 , Cuilan Lin  5 , Shijian Liu  1   2   3
Affiliations
Review

Diet and Nutrients Intakes during Infancy and Childhood in Relation to Early Puberty: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Jingyi Tang et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

The onset of puberty has become earlier over the decades, and nutrients and diet are related to the timing of puberty onset. Hence, we aimed to investigate the association between diet or nutrients in infancy, childhood and early puberty. PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane library were searched systematically up to 15 April 2022. The pooled relative risks (RRs) or regression coefficients (beta) were estimated using the random-effect model or fixed-effect model according to the heterogeneity between studies. Twenty-two articles on diet or nutrients in childhood and six about breastfeeding in infancy were included. The prolonged breastfeeding duration in infancy could reduce the risk of early menarche (beta 0.31, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.60, p = 0.045). The high intake of yogurt was associated with a 35% reduction in the risk of earlier menarche (RR 0.65, 95% CI: 0.47, 0.89, p = 0.008). Girls with severe food insecurity experienced later menarche (RR 0.81, 95% CI: 0.67, 0.98, p = 0.027). Conversely, due to the high intake of protein, the risk of early menarche increased by 8% (RR 1.08, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.16, p = 0.016). High intake of yogurt, longer duration of breastfeeding, and food insecurity decreased the possibility of earlier menarche, while high intake of protein increased that risk. As a modifiable factor, diet and nutrients in infancy and childhood provide new insights into the future prevention of early puberty.

Keywords: childhood; diet; early puberty; infancy; nutrients.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart for study selection in this systemic review and meta-analysis.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot of the association between breastfeeding duration in infancy and early menarche onset [21,22,23,24].
Figure 3
Figure 3
Forest plot of relative risk of early menarche onset for (a) total energy intake, (b) carbohydrate intake, (c) protein intake, and (d) fat intake [12,14,15,26,35,36,37,38,39].
Figure 4
Figure 4
Forest plot of relative risk of early menarche onset for vitamins [26,35].
Figure 5
Figure 5
Forest plot of relative risk of early menarche onset for (a) milk intake, (b) dairy intake, and (c) yogurt intake [27,31,32,34].
Figure 6
Figure 6
Forest plot of relative risk of early menarche onset for meat and red meat [12,30,31].
Figure 7
Figure 7
Forest plot of relative risk of early menarche onset for soy intake [41,42].
Figure 8
Figure 8
Forest plot of relative risk of early menarche onset for food insecurity [30,33,40].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Farello G., Altieri C., Cutini M., Pozzobon G., Verrotti A. Review of the Literature on Current Changes in the Timing of Pubertal Development and the Incomplete Forms of Early Puberty. Front. Pediatr. 2019;7:147. doi: 10.3389/fped.2019.00147. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Eckert-Lind C., Busch A.S., Petersen J.H., Biro F.M., Butler G., Bräuner E., Juul A. Worldwide Secular Trends in Age at Pubertal Onset Assessed by Breast Development Among Girls. JAMA Pediatr. 2020;174:e195881. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2019.5881. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bräuner E.V., Busch A.S., Eckert-Lind C., Koch T., Hickey M., Juul A. Trends in the Incidence of Central Precocious Puberty and Normal Variant Puberty Among Children in Denmark, 1998 to 2017. JAMA Netw. Open. 2020;3:e2015665. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.15665. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mishra G.D., Pandeya N., Dobson A.J., Chung H.-F., Anderson D., Kuh D., Sandin S., Giles G.G., Bruinsma F., Hayashi K., et al. Early menarche, nulliparity and the risk for premature and early natural menopause. Hum. Reprod. 2017;32:679–686. doi: 10.1093/humrep/dew350. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yang P.-J., Hou M.-F., Ou-Yang F., Tsai E.-M., Wang T.-N. Association of early-onset breast cancer with body mass index, menarche, and menopause in Taiwan. BMC Cancer. 2022;22:259. doi: 10.1186/s12885-022-09361-2. - DOI - PMC - PubMed