Slowing Down Early Puberty with Natural Remedies - Ted's Q&A

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Slow or Stop Early Puberty?

Posted by Roni (Riverdale, NJ) on 10/21/2006

I have a question to Ted and others who might know any remedy to stop or slow down early puberty. I like to hear if anyone has any comments on this. My daughter is 8 years old (turned 8 in mid-July) and diagnosed with precocious puberty. Her blood tests and bone x-ray done four months ago showed normal hormone levels and 8 months advanced bone age. Her doctor repeated the bone x-ray a week ago, this time the bone age came out 10 1/2. I am very worried because I heard that with the accelerated bone age, bone plates close early and child may not reach her potential height and might stay under 5 feet. She is tall to her age (in 97 percentile) and very skinny. I watch her diet very carefully, don't let her eat sugar, white flour and over processed foods. She eats mostly organic foods. Since I was very careful with what she ate, I was very shocked when I saw her breast buds appeared at the age of 6 1/2. Her physician says she is at stage 3 breast development. Other symptoms are pubic hair and growth spurts and underarm odor, no underarm hair yet. Now her doctor wants to do ovary simulation test with Luprolide to see if it is caused by her brain or ovaries. I read a lot lupron horror stories and very hesitant about it. I called a very good homeopathy doctor, he said he doesn't know any remedy for this. Today I took my daughter to TCM practitioner, she said there is stagnancy in liver and gave her herbal pills. I don't know much about TCM. I hope it will help to slow it down but meanwhile I am very worried and don't know if I am losing her valuable time because her bone age is increasing rapidly. After she was 3 - 4 years old, I noticed a few brown dots appearing on her hands, chest and face every year, these brown dots I always thought were caused by the vaccinations she had. Her hair also did not seem right to me. But each time when I brought these to her doctor's attention, he said she was healthy. I appreciate your comments and help. Great site. Thanks.

Replied by Ted
Bangkok, Thailand
392 posts

I worry about some scientist research whenever pubmed or published journals do not show that lavender or tea tree oil is an estrogen. There is a study that show injection of estrogen causes candida, but tea tree and lavender stopped it. You can do a simple search at www.pubmed.org and use the key word "tea tree estrogen", or "lavender estrogen" you will get zero results. It seems like it is anti-propaganda thing until these findings show up in scientific journals. If you worry about it, just tell them to take some Saw Palmetto or Wild Jams. But this might be unnecessary at the moment. I received no reports of tea tree and breast enlargement in men. But I do received reports of breast enlargement in men drinking cow's milk. Apparently industrialized farming is injecting hormones into cows to increase milk production was causing the problem. Estrogen is one thing, ability for estrogen to have biological effect is another thing, just like the soy issue.

Replied by Ted
Bangkok, Thailand
11/01/2006
392 posts

Roni: Early puberty is a well known modern phenomenon bought on by pseudo estrogens, growth hormones in cow's milk, the use of hormones and antibiotics in cows, heavy metals especially coming from aluminum and mercury tainted vaccines, free radical oils, fluoridation and chlorination of water, etc. I could go on and on.

All these causes the body's timing mechanism often called circadian rhythm to be off as well as the aging processes, since the body's signals are being jammed by all these unnatural toxins.

However there are limited studies that controlling urinary sugar (not mentioned in the research) also slows down puberty.

I remember when I was in the beginning of 1970s during the snack food boom that there were the use of hormones in cows to speed up their growth.

I also remembered that girls were beginning to mature earlier than boys by about 2 years, and then later both boys and girls were maturing way too early, which resulted in behavioral problems. It has since gotten worse today, 30 something years later. When I traveled from U.S. to stay in Thailand which was in 1980, at the time cow's milk were not used, snack foods at least of the western kind were virtually unknown, the use of vegetable oils were limited, fast food was virtually unknown except for some local attempts to create a fast food market using local food.

At the time most of the milk consumption were virtually limited to just soy milk. However in the beginning of the 1980s, things begin to change toward western food, the first was the promotion of cows' milk, the explosion of the snack foods market in the mid 1980s, and the explosion of the western fast foods, such as Pizza Hut, McDonalds, etc.

The first sign I noticed of early puberty occurred with the consumption of western diets, mostly fast foods, snack foods and cow's milk which occurred during the period the late 1980s to very early 1990s. Then a growth spurt in the Thai population happened in the late 1990s, along with obesity and diabetes, but the numbers were modest. Then with the saturation of the U.S. fast food market which occurred in the year 2003-2006, obesity was taking its toll.

As a result of this observation, I went to check various factors and found pseudo estrogens, growth hormones, and heavy metals to be unusually high amongst those foods.

People have always assumed that making cows grow faster is quite safe, breeding GMO chickens to grow at less than 1/2 of the normal time required was safe. The problem about all this is normal chickens, pre-1970 had a well balanced omega 3 and omega 6, but with the advent of industrialized chickens the omega 6 were way over and omega 3 were lacking in chickens.

This was especially true of fast food chickens, and I suspect beef grown by similar methods have the same effect.

I remember reading some articles that the use of bovine growth hormones in livestock animals had an effect on human health such as growth hormones found in milk for example causes unusual effect in humans, such as early puberty, early obesity and diabetes, and other things.

You must remember that the body's aging mechanism is every much to do with pineal gland, hypothalamus and the pituitary gland. As you get older the sensitivity of receptors get dull and it triggers the body aging process what we refer to as puberty, through various signals previously mentioned. Normally no outside signals is needed, but if it does happen early puberty will result.

The simplest way is to remove aging mechanisms such as

1. glycation so supplementing, metformin (or goat's rue), remove fluoridation(by borax),

2. remove chlorination,

3. stray heavy metals found in all cooking utensils, fried food (vegetables is a great heavy metal source but at the same time takes out heavy metals too),

4. pseudo estrogens from insecticides, plastics and processed food.

One simple way to detoxify pseudo estrogens is the supplementation of indole 3 carbinol, or from natural sources such as broccoli and cabbage. Mostly they are found in broccoli but getting supplements might be good too.

Certain unidentified chemical toxins which tend to be accumulated in the liver can be neutralized by adding a couple of drops of H2O2 3% in a glass of water. In Taiwan some households use bubbled ozone to detoxify meats, vegetables, etc. before eating.

Removal of heavy metals by eating chinese parsley (cilantro), or doing oil chelation (oil pulling will remove heavy metals out), and removing free radicals from drinking water by adding some disodium EDTA of 1/4 teaspoon per liter seems to be helpful.

Drinking milk I think in form of whey protein from powdered sources is one way to prevent the negative effects from drinking cow's milk at the same time avoiding the growth hormones and other toxins, but not completely removing all of them.

Avoid unnecessary immunization which I found also causes early puberty since they tend to add mercury and aluminum, and in some cases are doped with some kind of hormones, and you can never say unless you actually take the time to analyzed the things they don't say. Monosodium glutamate is one they also put in vaccines. In laboratory rats, we inject them to cause obesity, diabetes and other things.

It must be remembered that the pineal glands tend to accumulate calcium and fluoride, much earlier in people with early puberty conditions. So in my opinion, such removal of fluoride especially would be helpful.

These glandular sickness, such as early puberty are bought upon because when the body have high amounts of heavy metals, these free radical metals tend to destroy many glandular functions such as pancreas causing diabetes, thyroid causing either Graves' disease or hypothyroidism, and even the hypothalamus, pineal gland, which in turn causes early puberty through heavy metals which attack sensitive glandular systems. It is therefore important to remove heavy metals from drinking water, and foods. I find that oil chelation, chinese parsley and disodium EDTA added to drinking water particularly useful. And if possible, getting some heavy metal kits can also test heavy metals in urine and food sources are also helpful too.

Shown below is some information related to early puberty. One is simple, such as metformin. Sugar, I think and the low diets in certain sugar metabolism is one of causes of aging, especially fructose (corn syrup), lack of chromium, lack of vanadium, lack of molybdenum and manganese I think is one factors that causes precocious puberty as glycation is one element where the body circadian rhythm timing as well as obesity go almost hand in hand. Small amount of borax added to drinking water will help prevent sugar from reacting with the body negatively. One dramatic example is dried flowers. If it is not dipped in borax the sugar and proteins react causing a brown flowers instead of flowers retaining the usual colors. So borax is protective against glycation, one of the factors of aging and precocious puberty.

One is more complicated such as suppressing sex hormones through gonadotrophins.

I prefer to just reduce the pseudo estrogens as mentioned and other external environmental toxins. I guess I am old fashioned.

It depends on your choice what you will do. Ted

Here is some literature on this topic using metformin:

1: J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2006 May 9;

Metformin Treatment to Prevent Early Puberty in Girls with Precocious Pubarche.

Ibanez L, Ong K, Valls C, Marcos MV, Dunger DB, de Zegher F. Endocrinology Unit and Hormonal Laboratory, Hospital Sant Joan de Deu, University of Barcelona, 08950 Esplugues, Barcelona, Spain; Department of Paediatrics, University of Cambridge, CB2 2QQ Cambridge, UK; Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit, Cambridge, CB1 8RN, UK;

Endocrinology Unit. Hospital de Terrassa, 08227 Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain; Department of Woman & Child, University of Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.

Context and Objective: Girls with precocious pubarche (PP, pubic hair < 8 yr) are at high risk for early onset and rapid progression of puberty, in particular if their prenatal growth was restrained (low birthweight, LBW) and followed by rapid postnatal catch-up of weight gain. We postulated that insulin resistance contributes to early onset and rapid progression of puberty in LBW-PP girls, and thus explored the puberty-delaying effects of insulin sensitization with metformin initiated shortly after PP diagnosis. Setting, Design, and Patients: The study population consisted of 38 prepubertal LBW girls with PP attributed to exaggerated adrenarche [mean BW 2.4 Kg; age 7.9 yr; body mass index (BMI) 18.4 Kg/m(2)]; these girls were randomly assigned to remain untreated (n = 19) or to receive metformin (n = 19; 425 mg/d) for 2 yr. Main outcome measures: Pubertal staging, age at menarche, body composition by absorptiometry, fasting insulin, glucose, lipids, leptin, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), IGF-binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1), testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEAS), testosterone, sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG). Results: Metformin treatment was associated with a less adipose body composition (and lower serum leptin levels) and with a 0.4 yr delay in the clinical onset of puberty (Tanner B2; 9.5 yr vs. 9.1 yr; P < 0.01). These findings were corroborated by a delay of at least 1 yr in the puberty-associated rise of circulating IGF-1 (P < 0.01). Available results also point to a metformin-associated delay of menarche (P < 0.02); so far, gain in height and lean mass was not divergent between study subgroups. Conclusion: The efficacy of early metformin treatment in PP girls is herewith extended to include not only a less adipose body composition after 2 yr, but also a less advanced onset of puberty, while height gain is maintained. These findings open the perspective that, ultimately, metformin treatment may also prove to heighten the short adult stature of LBW-PP girls.

PMID: 16684823 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone analog therapy for central precocious puberty and other childhood disorders affecting growth and puberty. Lee PA, Houk CP.

Department of Pediatrics, Penn State College of Medicine, The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA.

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analog therapy relies primarily on the ability of these compounds to bind to and modulate GnRH-receptor activity. GnRH analogs have been used in pediatric patients where endogenous gonadotropin release is undesirable or potentially harmful, such as in: (i) patients with central precocious puberty (CPP); (ii) healthy short children where pubertal delay would provide an opportunity to supplement pre-pubertal linear growth; and (iii) children with malignancies and other disorders where treatment requires the use of gonadotoxic compounds. In the first two groups of patients, GnRH agonists may be used alone or in conjunction with somatropin (growth hormone [GH]) to prevent early skeletal maturation and increase the subsequent adult height, while in the latter case, GnRH agonists are used alone or in conjunction with GnRH antagonists in an attempt to preserve gonadal function.In children and adolescents with CPP, timely use of GnRH agonists alone can result in an adult height within the genetic potential of the individual (target height); however, minimal height is gained when GnRH agonist therapy is commenced after a marked advancement of skeletal age. This provides the rationale for combined therapy with GnRH agonists and somatropin in such patients, and studies have shown improved growth with this approach compared with GnRH agonists alone. Combination therapy with GnRH agonists and somatropin has also been shown to increase adult heights to a greater extent than GnRH agonists alone in pediatric patients with concomitant CPP and GH deficiency, those with idiopathic short stature, and those born small for gestational age; however, such combination therapy has shown no increased benefit over somatropin alone in pediatric patients with GH deficiency. Limited results in children and adolescents with congenital adrenal hyperplasia and chronic primary hypothyroidism have also shown increased growth rates, while no growth benefit was seen in pediatric renal transplant recipients.GnRH analogs also have potential as gonadoprotective agents; studies of GnRH agonists used alone and in combination with GnRH antagonists in women undergoing cytotoxic therapy have shown increased preservation of reproductive potential in patients who were receiving GnRH analog therapy versus those who were not.The adverse effects of GnRH analogs mainly consist of menopausal-like complaints. Increases in bodyweight and body mass index in children receiving GnRH agonist therapy have been shown; however, these increases do not persist after discontinuation of therapy. Adult bone mineral density and fertility are also not adversely affected by childhood GnRH agonist therapy.GnRH analog therapy appears to be both well tolerated and effective in pediatric patients, as it allows the preservation or improvement of adult height, and shows no longstanding negative effects on body composition, bone density, reproductive function, or endocrine physiology. These agents may also be useful for preservation of gonadal function in children and adolescents undergoing cytotoxic therapy.

PMID: 17002488 [PubMed - in process]

The pubertal timing controversy in the USA, and a review of possible causative factors for the advance in timing of onset of puberty. Slyper AH.

Department of Pediatrics, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL 60153, USA. [email protected]

Previously used standards for the diagnosis of precocious puberty in girls no longer appear to be appropriate in the USA, in that a significant number of girls are being seen in paediatricians' offices with breast budding before 8 years of age. The timing of menarche, however, has changed little over the past few decades. Early maturing girls are more likely to become obese in adolescence and adulthood than normal or late maturing girls. Early maturing white girls are heavier at the onset of puberty, but this is not the case for African-American girls or boys of either race. Boys and girls with premature pubarche may be more hyperinsulinaemic than normal children, and girls with premature pubarche more likely to develop functional ovarian and adrenal hyperandrogenism. Early menarche is preceded by prepubertal hyperinsulinaemia. It is proposed that pubertal onset, although not necessarily the tempo of puberty, is influenced by hyperinsulinaemia and insulin resistance. If this hypothesis is correct, insulin resistance may be more prevalent in US children than previously recognized. An advance in timing of onset of puberty has not been noted in other countries, although it is likely that this phenomenon may become more prevalent as other countries adopt a more American lifestyle and diet.

PMID: 16817811 [PubMed - in process]

Replied by Roni

Ted, Thank you. Your response meant a lot to me. I was very distressed about this matter. I agree on the causes completely. But in my case, the irony is I did not let her eat sugar, non organic dairy, chicken, meat, any fried food, fast food, soft drinks and any other junk or processed food. She doesn't consume much milk, chicken and meat. When she does she drinks or eats only organic ones. In my house we use well water for about 6 years, so there is no chlorination. I use mostly natural cleaning products and limit my use of others to minimum. But she had about 20 childhood vaccinations and has been using flouride toothpaste. I will follow your suggestions. But are disodium EDTA and indole 3 carbinol safe for an 8 years old. One other thing is Borax, is it safe for internal use? Isn't it Borax that is used for ants and insects. If not, sorry for my ignorance. Thanks a lot. I appreciated. Roni

Replied by Ted
Bangkok, Thailand
392 posts

Flouride is the one of leading cause of precocious puberty. It works by accumulating in the pineal gland, the major biological clock. So to slow it down it is to chelate out the flouride using borax as mentioned.

Vaccinations are high on estrogen antigens, monosodium glutamate, mercury, and aluminum which destroys the biological clock in the hypothalamus region and the pineal gland.

Heavy metals can also be high in well water, and extremely high in vaccines that it usually exceeds even EPA standards for a safe water lake. Your body is more toxic than a water lake if you go by Environmental Protection Agency Standards.

If what you are saying is true, taking plenty of selenium will displace the mercury. Taking plenty of chinese parsley, and cod liver oil will help too. But are disodium EDTA and indole 3 carbinol safe for an 8 years old. Everything depends on the dose. An 8 year old will only take half of any dose that an adult will take. If unsure, then try 1/3 the dose, for more precision. If you don't like indole 3 carbinol, then cabbage and brocolli. Inolde 3 carbinol is only an extract of the active substance found in them. Try to put some mothballs in the house to prevent stuffiness, and other things. The mothballs have certain unique properties that are anti pseudoestrogens, and naphthalene is a chemical cousin quite close to indole family. Many hair formulation use these related chemicals to rid of pseudoestrogens and toxic forms of DHT, which tend to cause baldness in woman and men. Again if you are unsure, you don't have to try it. It is just a possibility.

One other thing is Borax, is it safe for internal use?

Yes depending on the dose. One pinch of borax in one liter of water is quite safe. If that is too much for you, then how about one pinch per liter of water? In Thailand we use Borax as a medication too.

Isn't it Borax that is used for ants and insects.

Yes, but the fluoride content in your toothpaste is also used as an insecticide too. The difference is that borax toxicity in mammals are almost zero, while fluoride it is extremely toxic for mammals and also toxic for insects. Borax or boron is an essential mineral for growth in both plants and animals. Fluoride stunts growth in plants while in mammal models it causes precocious development. Fluoride are ABSOLUTELY non essential in plants. This can be proven easily, since hydroponics plant do not require flouride. So where did we get the idea we needed fluoride anyway?

Molybdenum is in fact the mineral that protects against cavities and also is a proven essential mineral for both plants and animals. Plants need that to cause the development buds of in plants to develop. I suspect therefore that to counter the effects of fluoride, while borax will remove it, molybdenum supplements should be a better substitute against cavities as wells as our overall health especially in the control of pH.

In the future who knows? Molybdenum might even be helpful for precocious puberty also since molybdenum seems to control the development of buds in plant. The molybdenum I am using is currently sodium molybdate, and this seems to have positive biological effect.

Replied by Sri
Pittsburgh, Pa
10/18/2011

My daughter is 9 and half years old now. She started her underarm hair at the age 7 years and 9 months and no other puberty symptoms. Her pediatrician said no need to worry about it. After 8-9 months she started having pubic hair. Finally when she was around 8 years and 9 months I have noticed her breast bud and very much scared and took her to the pediatrician. She recommended for the bone x-ray and the results are she is 18months over her age. But her height and weight are pretty normal in 55 percentile and 65 percentile. We took her to endocrinologist and she suggested for the blood test something like that needs to give her some IV for that day. We were scared and did not make that appointment. But now she is 9 and half years and she is showing lil more development on her breasts and vaginal white discharge. I am really scared of thinking to get her first period. I got my first period when I was 12 years and 8 months. My sister got when she was 12 years and 3 months. I use majority of organic foods and once in a week only we will go out for restaurants. Do I really need to get scared or is this normal at this age? Please help.

Replied by Timh
Louisville, Usa
10/19/2011
2043 posts

Sri, several studies show that environmental toxins within the developing female can mimic or even stimulate estrogen blood levels which explains why girls are maturing tooo quickly. Ask your endocrinologist if her estrogen levels are normal or high? Many health specialist warn to not consume soy products as soy also has estrogenic effects on the human body. The supplement SAM-e has been studied and proven to help remove excess estrogen from body. This may seem too simple and general, but I would recommend some Oil Pulling to help detoxify her body. Good luck.

Replied by Dan
Nebraska
11/22/2015

My daughter is 7 and is also going through early puberty. I have heard about some people using SAM-E supplement but nobody is specific about safe dosing and for how long to use it. I'd appreciate your help!

Replied by Timh
Ky
11/24/2015
2043 posts

D: SAM-e is an extremely beneficial nutrient produced in small amounts in our body from the amino acid Methionine w/ other co-factors. SAM-e supplementation is almost nothing in the way of unsafe. As with all nutritional supplements dosage suggestions are properly labeled for user safety & efficacy. For a 7 yr girl, 200mg daily would be a good start. I take 200mg SAM-e w/ 500mg Methionine plus 1000mcg B-12/400mcg Folic Acid every other day.

Other nutrients to improve liver function and therefore estrogen metabolism is Artichoke Leaf, Triple Strength Lecithin (preferably Sunflower), and TMG.

Replied by Kara
Vancouver
04/07/2018

Hi there

i am also dealing with precocious puberty in my son. He is 11.5 now. Just at 9 years old he was showing early signs of puberty. The dr didn't suggest any intervention even though he was likely 8 when he had the beginning of testicular growth. I did not vaccinate him and have primarily used organic dairy however he did drink a ton of milk when he was younger. I eliminated all the plastic and buy only organic food now and he isn't really eating meat very often but if he does it's primarily organic otter than when we eat in restaurants which I try to only go to organic places. He became quite heavy at 9 years old but he stayed a trampoline exercise program had cut out dairy and got into a very healthy weight again within 4 months. He's now showing lots more puberty signs and had grown a lot quicker in the past 6 months. The Endrocrine dr here is not great and I've heard from others that did only reacts if a child has bone age that is 4 years advanced.

My son has a bone age scan at age 9 which showed bone age of 11.5 years old. On his 11th bday his bone scan showed bone age of 13 years old. Both show advanced bone age. I've tried naturopathic medicine, tons of supplements from estrogen removers like DIM to Chinese medicine regularly with acupuncture. The tcm dr says it's heat of fire so trying to balance that . Hes been on aerogel herbal blockers and things to relax.

Recently our naturopath suggested ed a natural supplement to balance the hypothalamus. Also a testosterone blocked user no different herbs and supplements in a product. I'm very interested in learning about your approach with the pineal gland. I think that's very important! Although my son hasn't had any vaccines he has had fluoride. Our water he showed in has chlorine and of course swimming pools etc. Can this also accumulate in the pineal gland? I'm still very hopeful and will try anything to help . One of the main reasons I didn't push harder for the Endrocrine team to do something to intervene was because I know that the drugs used can have negative long term side effects in some people. I have tried to get at the source of the problem.. the idea of glycanation and metformin is interesting. Regarding the borax using a punch in one litre of water is safe for my son.. is that correct? How often should he drink this she in using selenium and cilantro etc I have heard it can be dangerous so must be monitored by a physician of some sort. Is this true and can oil pulling help pull heavy metal out of the pineal gland as well?

Lastly, the only vaccine type medicine he's ever had was last may (2017 when he had a small cut from the barn we go to and it was a small risk and because of the tetanus being so serious, we did the immunoglobulin for tetanus. It is a blood product that is considered the safest of all products because they disinfect the blood or the plasma and it's heated up very high and basically all that left is antibodies.. or that's what they say. I know this could just be a coincidence but I feel that a couple months after this was injected, puberty started to get activated more than it was before. I would love to detox this out if his body as well.

Thank you for reading this very long post! I truly appreciate any suggestions and am pretty overwhelmed much of the time trying to figure out what to do?

Replied by Trisha
Okc
11/27/2018

If that shot of immunoglobulin is the same as the tetanus then it has the DTaP or the Tdap vaccine in it. It sounds like from reading one of the previous comments that needing a liver cleanse could contribute to early puberty. I'm not sure if I'm understanding that correctly. But vaccines and other types of shots definitely do wreak havoc on liver and kidneys the most I think. I don't have any other information.

Replied by Kelly
Arkansas
04/24/2022

The cause of precocious puberty most definitely can be from lavender, my child went from being flatchested to having breast buds pubic hair are menstruating within 4 months using a topical lavender product . Her breast was flattened within days, when I ceased using it.

Replied by Amatari
Yenagoa bayelsa
11/01/2024

My daughter started having breast at the age of 7