Boys today on faster track to puberty

The findings suggest that trends towards earlier puberty are not limited to girls, who have already been shown to be developing sexually at increasingly younger ages.

In the study, reported in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, researchers from Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles compared 6,200 healthy Bulgarian boys with a similar 1970s study. Both measured height, weight, testicular volume, penis length and circumference.

“Studies done several decades ago in the same population reported that a leap forward in sexual development occurs at ages 13 through 16,” said Fnu Deepinder, who led the study.

“However, our study indicated that this spurt takes place between 12 and 15 years.”
Deepinder said that genetic, environmental, nutritional and educational factors could all be behind the faster development today.