Xenoestrogen
Xenoestrogens are clinically significant because they can mimic the effects of endogenous estrogen and thus have been implicated in precocious puberty and other disorders of the reproductive system.
Xenoestrogen
The current literature is inadequate to provide the information we need to assess the extent to which environmental chemicals contribute to precocious puberty. Gaps in our knowledge are the result of limitations in the designs of studies, small sample sizes, challenges to conducting exposure assessment and the few number of chemicals studied. Unfortunately exposure is inferred and not actually measured in available studies. The ability to detect the possible role of chemicals in altering pubertal development is confounded by many nutritional, genetic and lifestyle factors capable of affecting puberty and the complex nature of the reproductive endocrine system. Other research challenges include shifts in exposure levels among populations over time and simultaneous exposures to multiple compounds. Overall the literature does not with certainty support the contention that environmental chemicals or dietary factors are having widespread effects on human sexual development. However data does not refute such a hypothesis either. Accelerated sexual development is plausible in individuals exposed to high concentration of estrogenic substances. There is a concerning steady increase in exposure to a wide variety of xenoestrogens in the industrial world. Further research is needed to assess the impact of these compounds on pubertal development.