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# Vitamin D linked to early menarche
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/vitamin_d_linked_to_early_menarche_0816110226/
- Published: 2011-08-16T15:25:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T15:44:10.000Z
- Description: Among 242 Colombian girls followed for 30 months, 57 percent of those deficient in vitamin D had reached menarche, against 23 percent of girls with sufficient levels. Deficient girls started about 0.8 years earlier and were twice as likely to have menarche early after adjustment.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Vitamins, Nutrition, Vitamin D, Menarche, #vivvo-import

By David Liu, PH.D.

Tuesday Aug 16, 2011 (foodconsumer.org) -- Vitamin D deficiency may get girls into puberty and experience menarche earlier, according to a new study scheduled to appear in the Nov 2011 issue of American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The study led by Eduardo Villamor of Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, MA and colleagues found of girls with vitamin D deficiency, 57 percent experienced menarche at the end of the study compared to 23 percent among girls who had sufficient vitamin D.

Early menarche has been associated with cardiometabolic disease and breast cancer. It is already known that latitude is inversely correlated to age at menarche. The current study was intended to see if the age at menarche is associated with serum vitamin D levels.

For the study, the researchers measured 25-hydroxvitamin D in blood samples from 242 girls at an average of 8.8 years who were randomly picked from a population in Bogota, Colombia.

Then 30 months later, the researchers asked participants if and when they had menarche.

All girls were grouped based on their serum levels of vitamin D, less than 50 nmol/L, equal to or greater than 50, but less than 75 nmol/L and equal to or greater than 75 nmol/L.

The researchers also found that girls with sufficient vitamin D had menarche on average at 11.8 years whereas girls with vitamin d deficiency (less than 50 nmol/L) had it at 12.6 years.

After adjustment for other co-factors including baseline age and body mass index, vitamin D deficient girls were twice as likely as those with vitamin D sufficiency to experience menarche earlier.

Vitamin D deficiency has been linked with a few dozens of health conditions including breast cancer.

Early menarche is linked with higher risk of breast cancer. Dietary patterns are associated with the timing of menarche or puberty. Plant-based diet is linked with later puberty or menarche.

Menarche is the first menstrual bleeding in females.