This is a concise article that
offers an intellectual
explanation of the causes of
enlarged breasts common
among women in recent times. Breast, a soft (rounded)
protruding organ on the upper
front of a woman’s body, is no
doubt an important part of the
female anatomy, not only for
producing milk needed to feed a new born baby, although that
can be enormous, its high-end
advantage during sexual
activities and the role it plays in
the attractiveness of a woman
cannot be overemphasised. Notably, men have theirs, but it
is not (always) as sizeable as
those of women, and many men
lust after these organs, often
making some to skip their
breaths, lose concentration or even change focus on sighting
them, and for most of them, the
bigger, the better. Call it an instant attention
grabber for men and you may
not be far from the truth. It
excites them and remains a
huge delight for them but it also
delights its owners; women, making them feel good and
sometimes enhancing their
comparative advantage. And
suffice it to say that it aptly
qualifies as one of the most
cherished (by women) and most loved (by men) parts of
the female body. Such is its
importance to both sexes. Even though big breasts could
be a blessing or burden for
women, as big breasts have
been found to have the
likelihood of affecting posture
and causing chronic back pain, regardless, more women seem
to crave for it now than ever
before. However, it is not uncommon
these days to see that women,
including young girls, are
becoming increasingly endowed
in that region. In fact, in those
days, girls used to wear vest until they approached 18 but
now, bras have taken the
centre stage, not just for
decoration but because there is
indeed something to cover,
which underscores the fact that girls and women are getting
bigger in that region. Many have attributed women’s
bust increase to the fact that
many more women are going
under the knife for breast
enlargement, which has made it
difficult to know which one is natural or artificial, but far from
that, lifestyle and diet have
been found to play a major role
in bust size. This is independent of heredity
and the fact that women
experience some natural
variation in their breast size
usually during their period
(menstruation) and pregnancy period (pre and post). An emeritus surgeon, Prof.
Michael Baum, who is also an
expert in breast cancer,
explained that one good reason
why more women are getting
increased bust size is increased fat consumption, but
a nutritionist, Jane Clarke told
Daily Mail that people are eating
more of wrong food and that all
the calories people consume
end up on the hips and breasts coupled with the fact that more
women are now taking too
much of alcohol which is highly
calorific. Another nutritionist, Dr. Marilyn
Glenville, also opined that
beyond fat, increase in the
breast tissue levels has also
been responsible for the
increase in breast size. “So, we have to look at what stimulates
breast tissue growth, and that is
oestrogen, the female sex
hormone. Oestrogen is what
changes our body shape during
puberty,” she added. Glenville explained that there is
a strong link between increased
oestrogen levels and bigger
breasts, adding that there are
some breast-enhancing
supplements that have made their way into some of the food
people consume, making such
food items have oestrogenic
properties, which have
impacted on their breast size.
She argued further that a large chunk of the milk consumed by
humans come from pregnant
cows, thus the milk would be
flooded with oestrogen. She said, “It makes sense to
look at the ways in which our
exposure to all types of
oestrogen, the hormone our
own bodies produce and
oestrogenic chemicals we come into contact with, has
changed over the years. “Girls today reach puberty
earlier than ever before, and are
going on to have fewer
¬children and breastfeeding for
less time. As a result, we have
far more periods than our ancestors would have had and
we are exposed to more
monthly surges of oestrogen,
which stimulates ovulation and
is also responsible for the
increasing breast sizes.” Meanwhile, a previous study,
led by Dr. Karin Michels, from
Harvard Medical School, had
explained that young girls of
nowadays are reaching puberty
at an earlier age because of consumption of sugary drinks.
Thus, when these girls reach
puberty, they begin to show the
signs, evident in their breasts
and butts. Michels said, “Our study adds
to increasing concern about the
widespread consumption of
sugar-sweetened drinks among
children and adolescents. Our
study suggests that age of first menstruation (menarche)
occurred earlier among girls
with the highest consumption of
drinks sweetened with added
sugar. These findings are
important in the context of earlier puberty onset among
girls.” Going by Glenville’s
explanation, the fact that more
girls reach puberty exposes
them to more oestrogen from
their young age, which tends to
have its own effect on their anatomy, especially their
breasts. One other explanation for the
rising size of boobs, according
to experts, is the use of
contraceptive pills. In a report
on softpedia.com, a consultant
endocrinologist, Prof. Pierre- Marc Bouloux, was quoted as
saying, “There is a tendency for
the pill to stimulate breast
growth. However, modern
versions of the pill contain far
less estrogen than their older counterparts.” Bouloux explained that there
are some other products that
come as consumable items, like
some chewing gum, which have
some oestrogenic properties
that could enhance breast size, adding that certain chemicals in
polluted water and industrial
wastes could mimic oestrogen
and produce the same boob-
boosting factor in the women. But, in the words of Dr. Joanna
Scurr, a breast biomechanics
expert and principal lecturer in
biomechanics at the University
of Portsmouth, breast sizes are
increasing because of the higher proportion of fats in
them, adding that junk food,
tinned food, canned drinks, and
plastic bottles could also be
responsible, due to the
xenoestrogen. Therefore, the increase in
breast sizes in recent times
could be placed down to
increased fat consumption by
women, rising levels of breast
tissue, eating junks and fatty meals, drinking sugary drinks
and use of contraceptive pills,
more so because breast tissue
has been found to be extremely
sensitive to hormones. These
are independent of hereditary, menstruation and pregnancy/
breastfeeding.
Commenting on the study, a
medical practitioner, Dr. Rotimi
Adesanya, explained that apart
from increase in fat diets, use of family planning drugs are
some of the things responsible
for the increasing breast sizes. He said, “The increase is due to
increase in fats because breast
is made of fatty tissues. So, if
the fat is much in the body,
definitely, the one in the breast
will be much as well. So, the level of fat a person eats is an
indirect proportion of the
person’s breasts size. For
some, it runs in the family, and
for people that tend to be obese
or big in size, they also tend to have a large breast. “Also, use of hormonal drugs,
such as contraceptive pills,
could increase breast size.
Diet is also a very important
factor. The fatty diets include
sugary drinks, margarines, etc., and too much of oil is not very
good, and that is why we advise
people to take more of fruits
and vegetables.” Written by TUNDE AJAJA