Early Puberty, Sugar, and Migraine

Could sugar be triggering a chain-reaction that leads to early puberty – and migraine – in some girls?

A recent study took a look at various stages of puberty in girls and its relationship to migraine. The bottom line is that girls who enter puberty early may have a higher risk of migraine.

Puberty is a complex change, and it happens in stages. In girls, the change includes breast development, the menstrual cycle, and changes in hair growth, for example. Each change is related to different chemical messages that are sent throughout the body.

The University of Cincinnati College of Medicine hosted this particular study, which was presented last week at the American Headache Society 61st Annual Scientific Meeting in Philadelphia. Generally speaking, breast development and menstrual periods began earlier in girls who developed migraine.

Although we often think about the menstrual cycle and its relationship to migraine (and the connection is very clear in some women), there may be other changes that trigger migraine in the first place. As the doctor who presented the finding explained (note – pubarche refers to first growth of pubic hair, thelarche to first breast growth, and menarche to periods):

At each of these stages, different hormones are starting to appear in girls. During pubarche, testosterone and androgens are present, and during thelarche, there is the very first exposure to estrogen. Menarche is when a more mature hormonal pattern emerges. Our study implies that the very first exposure to estrogen could be the starting point for migraine in some adolescent girls.

Dr. Vincent Martin [source]

Early breast development may happen even at the age of 6 or 7, and is not necessarily a sign of early puberty. Variations are normal, and not necessarily a sign of a problem. However, the study results have led doctors to ask the question – if certain stages of early puberty increase the risk of migraine (as seems to be the case), is early puberty itself the cause somehow? Or is something causing both?

Interestingly enough, there has been a lot of interest in the connection between early puberty, obesity, and sugar. There does seem to be a connection between early puberty and obesity (as the researchers in the above study also mentioned). But even without the obesity, too much sugar may also cause early puberty.

This combined with the current interest in the sugar-migraine connection does raise some suspicious questions. Might refined sugar not only increase your changes of migraine attacks – might it also cause migraine to start at an earlier age?

Take for example this study on girls and sugary drinks. Even if obesity was taken out of the equation, the sugary drinks were still linked to early onset of puberty.

Then again, although obesity seems to be the clearest possible link, many other things have been blamed, from plastics to shampoos to processed foods.

Again, early signs of puberty are no reason to panic. However, these studies are causing us to think again about why and when migraine begins in some girls, and how “normal” refined sugar should be in our diets.