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http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org For most of her life 21-year-old Heaven Taylor was part of a study at Cincinnati Children’s that looked at the connection between girls who reach puberty at an early age and the increased risk of breast cancer. Heaven Taylor, Study Participant “You got older and it was like I was helping someone, I was helping them get their research, I was helping them figure out how a young woman can just grow and prosper.” Researchers know girls who start puberty early, before the age of 12, have a 5 to 9 percent greater risk of developing breast cancer as an adult. Frank Biro, MD, Adolescent Medicine “That got me to thinking what are the underlying physiologic issues? In other words what is going on in the body, what is causing these differences in the age of onset?” To answer that question Dr. Frank Biro recruited more than one-hundred girls like Heaven, who spent 14 years making regular trips to Cincinnati Children’s where researchers could track measures such as height, weight, when breast development began, when menstrual cycles started and the length of growth spurts. He found that growth hormone ratios, along with lifestyle choices like a healthy diet and exercise may delay the onset of puberty, leading to slightly less risk of breast cancer later in life. Dr. Biro, “the consumption of fruits and vegetables can help because they include some chemicals called phytoestrogens, these aren’t potent estrogens, they’re actually pretty weak estrogens, but they’re in plants and they help delay an earlier onset of the first menstrual period, that seems to be a very low risk intervention that could have a great outcome.” Heaven’s mother Dorothea says what she learned during the study helped her create a healthier lifestyle at home for Heaven and her other children. Dorothea Taylor, Heaven's Mom