delanceyplace.com 9/30/13 - menstrual cycles

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In today's selection - a teenager today may have already experienced more menstrual cycles than her grandmother did during her entire life. A result of this is an increased risk of cancer:

"The less frequently a woman is pregnant, the more monthly menstrual cycles she endures. With each period a jolt of estrogen causes cells in the uterus and mammary glands to begin multiplying, duplicating their DNA preparing for the bearing and the nursing of a child that may not come. Each menstrual cycle is a roll of the dice, an opportunity for copying errors that might result in a neoplasm (tumor). Estrogen (along with asbestos, benzene, gamma rays, and mustard gas) is on the list of known human carcinogens published by the federal government's National Toxicology Program.

"Women these days are also exposed to more monthly doses of estrogen because they are beginning to menstruate at much earlier ages, possibly increasing the risk of breast cancer. A few scientists blame the change on bisphenol A -- a chemical in plastic bottles that mimics estrogen -- but a more widely accepted explanation involves nutrition. With more food to eat, girls mature more rapidly, accumulating fat, and that may serve as a signal that the body is healthy enough to begin ovulation. Over a century the age of menarche, when menstruation begins, has dropped in the Western world from about seventeen to twelve. At the same time women are spending less of their fertile life either pregnant or nursing a child. Lactation also appears to hold estrogen in check. The result of all this is that a teenager today may have already experienced more menstrual cycles than her grandmother did during her entire life."