Correlation between intake of food rich in phytoestrogens and pubertal development in junior high school girl students

  Objective   To explore the association between intake frequency of food rich in phytoestrogens (PEs) and pubertal development in girls.

  Methods   A questionnaire survey, physical examination, and pubertal development assessmentwere conducted among 1 601 girl students of grade one and two selected with cluster sampling in 8 high schoolsfrom November 2014 to May 2015 in Shenyang, Zhengzhou, Chongqing, and Guangzhou municipality.

  Results   Therewere 232 (14.5 %) and 219 (13.7 %) girl students with early and delayed breast development. There were significant differences in breast development among the girl students at different age and with various parental education level, body mass index (BMI), and consumptions of bean products and cooking oil (P < 0.05 for all). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that relatively high intake frequency of bean products (odds ratio = 0.48, 95 % confidence interval: 0.31 – 0.74) was a protective factor for early breast development among the girl students.

  Conclusion   A certain intake frequency of food richin PEs may be a protective factor for early breast development among girls. This may reflect that the traditional plant-baseddiets represent health dietary habits and lifestyle.