{"id":299583,"date":"2025-07-28T22:22:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T22:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/299583\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T22:22:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T22:22:14","slug":"sweeteners-and-genetics-linked-to-early-puberty-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/299583\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweeteners and Genetics Linked to Early Puberty Risk"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>TOPLINE:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sweetener intake, including aspartame and sucralose, was associated with an increased risk for early puberty in children, particularly in those who were genetically predisposed. Sex-specific effects were noted, with sucralose showing a stronger association with early puberty in boys and glycyrrhizin, sucralose, and other sugars in girls.<\/p>\n<p><strong>METHODOLOGY:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The prevalence of central precocious puberty, characterized by the early onset of secondary sexual characteristics, is increasing, highlighting the need for research into its causes and prevention strategies.<\/li>\n<li>Researchers analyzed a cohort of 1407 children from the Taiwan Pubertal Longitudinal Study to assess the effect of sweetener intake and genetic predisposition on the risk for central precocious puberty.<\/li>\n<li>Sweetener intake was evaluated using validated questionnaires and urinary biomarkers.<\/li>\n<li>Genetic predisposition was quantified using polygenic risk scores derived from 19 single-nucleotide polymorphisms related to central precocious puberty.<\/li>\n<li>Central precocious puberty was diagnosed using clinical, hormonal, and imaging criteria.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>TAKEAWAY:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Central precocious puberty was diagnosed in 481 children.<\/li>\n<li>Aspartame, glycyrrhizin, sucralose, and added sugars showed a significant association with an increased risk for central precocious puberty, especially in children with a genetic predisposition.<\/li>\n<li>The consumption of these sweeteners showed a dose-dependent relationship, with a higher intake increasing the risk for central precocious puberty. No significant interaction effects were found between genetic predisposition and sweetener intake.<\/li>\n<li>Sex-specific effects were noted; the consumption of sucralose was associated with a higher risk for central precocious puberty in boys, and the consumption of sucralose, glycyrrhizin, and added sugars was associated with a higher risk in girls.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>IN PRACTICE:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe findings indicate that sweetener consumption and genetic predisposition are independently associated with CPP [central precocious puberty] risk. Integrating genetic and dietary assessments could guide prevention strategies for children at heightened risk, mitigating the long-term health impacts of early puberty,\u201d the authors of the study wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe findings are directly relevant to families, pediatricians, and public health authorities,\u201d the lead author said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.endocrine.org\/news-and-advocacy\/news-room\/endo-annual-meeting\/endo-2025-press-releases\/chen-press-release\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">press release<\/a>. \u201cThey suggest that screening for genetic risk and moderating sweetener intake could help prevent early puberty and its long-term health consequences. This could lead to new dietary guidelines or risk-assessment tools for children, supporting healthier development.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>SOURCE:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The study was led by Yang-Ching Chen, MD, PhD, Taipei Municipal Wan Fang Hospital and Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan. It was presented at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.medscape.com\/viewcollection\/37856\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ENDO 2025: The Endocrine Society Annual Meeting<\/a> in San Francisco.<\/p>\n<p><strong>LIMITATIONS:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>No limitations were discussed in the abstract.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DISCLOSURES:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The authors had no disclosures, and no conflict of interest statements were provided.<\/p>\n<p>This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TOPLINE: Sweetener intake, including aspartame and sucralose, was associated with an increased risk for early puberty in children,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3846],"tags":[16314,26071,389,267,20534,3171,6380,110835,11227,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-299583","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-genetics","8":"tag-child","9":"tag-childhood","10":"tag-children","11":"tag-genetics","12":"tag-genomics-genomic-medicine","13":"tag-kids","14":"tag-pediatrics","15":"tag-precocious-puberty","16":"tag-puberty","17":"tag-science","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114933199501891924","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}