Madrid, 07 (Servimedia)
Bringing a healthy diet during childhood is linked to girls have their first menstrual period at a more advanced age than those that feed in a less healthy way.
That is the main conclusion of a study conducted by six investigators from the United States institutions and published on Wednesday in the ‘Human Reproduction’ magazine. This is the first analysis that relates certain diets to the age of menarchy, that is, the appearance of the first menstruation.
The results were not altered by the body mass index (BMI) or by the height of the girls, both associated with the earliest appearance of the rule.
The study has implications for Health in later stages of life, since it is well known that women who begin to have menstrual periods at an early age can have a greater risk of diabetes, obesity, breast cancer and heart disease and blood vessels.
“I think our findings highlight the need for all children and adolescents to have access to healthy food options, and the importance of breakfast and school lunches are based on evidence -based guidelines,” according to Holly Harris, associate teacher at Fred Hutchinson’s oncological center in Seattle (United States).
The results come from a large -scale prospective study of more than 7,500 children, aged between 9 and 14 years, who were registered in the Growing Up Today study in the United States during two waves: in 1996 and 2004. The researchers followed them up to 2001 and 2008, respectively.
Breast cancer
For the first time, the researchers analyzed the relationship between specific diets and the age of starting. They are also the first to examine whether the body mass index could have a modifying effect on the association between the diet and the age of the menarche.
“In a previous job we do at the Nurses’ Health Study II, an ongoing prospective cohort, we observed a greater risk of breast cancer in people who consumed a diet that promotes inflammation during adolescence and early adulthood,” Harris emphasizes.
In this regard, Harris adds: “After these results, we were interested in understanding if the dietary intake in early stages of life could influence breast cancer through the impact on the risk factors that arise between childhood and the age of the menarchy, such as the age of the menarchy. This led to the present study, in which we examine the impact of dietary patterns in the age Menarcia ”.
Questionnaires
-Before the menstruation came to them, the girls completed questionnaires about their diet by joining the study and, later, each to three years. They also informed the age at which the first period reached.
The researchers evaluated girls from two established dietary patterns: the alternative healthy eating index (AHEI) and the empirical dietary inflammatory pattern (EDIP, in English).
The AHEI gives more points to healthier foods, such as vegetables, legumes and whole grains, while unhealthy foods, such as red and processed meats, trans fats and salt, receive fewer points.
The EDIP scores the diets so that it reflects its general potential to cause inflammation in the body. Foods linked to greater inflammation include red and processed meat, animal viscera meat, refined cereals and energy drinks.
Almost 7,000 girls
A total of 6,992 girls (93% of the group) had their first menstruation during the study. The analysis of the questionnaire data showed that 20% of the minors with the highest AHEI score and, therefore, with a healthier diet, had an 8% less likely to have their first menstruation the following month, compared to 20% of those of the lowest AHEI score.
20% of the participants with the highest edip score – that is, with a more inflammatory diet – had 15% more likely to have their first menstruation the following month, compared to 20% with the lowest EDIP score.
“We observed that these two dietary patterns were associated with the age of menarchy, indicating that a healthier diet was related to the beginning of menstruation at a more advanced age. It should be noted that these results were independent of BMI and height, which demonstrates the importance of a healthy diet regardless of body size,” Harris says.
This researcher emphasizes: “Since a menarche at an earlier age is associated with multiple consequences in later life, as a greater risk of diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases and breast cancer, this could be an important period to try to reduce the risk of these chronic diseases.”
Harris points out that, in general, consuming fruits, vegetables, whole grains, blue fish, nuts, legumes and polyunsaturated fatty acids, while limiting the consumption of red and processed meats, refined cereals, sugary drinks and salt added “benefits all, regardless of age.”
(SERVIMEDA)0-MAY-2025 01:05 (GMT +2)MGR/clc
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