https://archive.ph/EKCJ9 Children who consume large amounts of artificial sweeteners in their food and drink are at higher risk of reaching puberty very early, a study suggests. Researchers examined 1,407 teenagers and found that 481 had undergone what is known as “central precocious puberty”. This is where the first signs of puberty start to emerge before the age of eight in girls and nine in boys. The analysis, carried out by researchers from Taipei Medical University in Taiwan, found a link between early puberty and higher consumption of sweeteners, particularly aspartame, sucralose and glycyrrhizin. Higher consumption of “added sugars”, meaning those added above the natural content of a food or drink item, was also linked with earlier puberty. The risk was most pronounced in those who already had a genetic predisposition towards an earlier puberty, according to research being presented this week at Endo 2025, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco in California.
