Drinking lots of soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages can cause early menstrual period among girls, a new study says.

For the study, which was published online Jan. 28 in the journal Human Reproduction, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health monitored 5,583 girls between ages 9 to 14 during 1996 and 2001.

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Researchers found that girls who consumed more than 1.5 servings of sugary drinks daily in the five-year time frame entered puberty 2.7 months earlier than those who consumed two or less of the same drinks weekly.  

When someone drinks a lot of soda, it usually goes with an unhealthy diet. But researchers found that soda and other sugary drinks were the root cause. The finding itself was independent of the girls' body mass index (BMI), daily calories, height, exercise and other lifestyle factors.

Researchers also found the average age at the first menstrual period among girls who had the most sugary drinks was 12.8 years, while those who consumed less was 13 years.

It's still not clear why sugary drinks might bring on menstruation early. But it may have to do with the effects of having highly sugared food, said study author, Jenny Carwile, a postdoctoral associate at Harvard.

Carwile said the girls answered a detailed questionnaire each year about the food they ate. From this information, researchers were able to determine how much sugar girls got form drinks from the sugar they consumed in other foods.

The study adds to the increasing concern about the prevalent consumption of sugary drinks among youngsters in the U.S.

Although the study doesn't prove directly that sugary drinks are the cause of earlier menstruation, researchers said there is still no good reason for anyone to be drinking these kinds of beverages regularly.  

TagsSugary drinks, soda, Early Menstruation