Girls who eat a lot of meat during childhood tend to start their periods earlier than others, a study suggests.

一项研究显示，童年时期进食大量肉类的女孩似乎月经来潮比其他人要早。

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Eating a lot of meat may promote good conditions for pregnancy

UK researchers compared the diets of more than 3,000 12-year-old girls.

They found high meat consumption at age three (over eight portions a week) and age seven (12 portions) was strongly linked with early periods.

Writing in Public Health Nutrition, the researchers said a meat-rich diet might prepare the body for pregnancy, triggering an earlier puberty（青春期，开花期） .

During the 20th Century, the average age at which girls started their periods fell fairly dramatically, although it now seems to be levelling off.

This is widely thought to be due to better nutrition（营养） and rising levels of obesity²（肥胖） , which has an impact on hormones³.

In the latest study, the team used data from a group of children followed from birth.

At the age of 12 years eight months, they split the girls into those who had already started their periods and those who had not.

Comparing their diets at the ages of three, seven and 10, they found that meat intake⁴（摄入） at a young age was strongly linked with earlier periods.

In fact, at age seven there was a 75% increased chance of having a period by age 12 in those eating the most meat compared with those who ate the least.

Although this finding was independent of body weight, the study repeated previous research showing that bigger girls tend to menstruate（月经来潮） early.