A new study has found that Sugar and artificial sweeteners might increase the risk of early puberty in children.

Results of the findings are presented at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco, which was held from July 12 to15.

Puberty is the period of physical and hormonal changes during which a child’s body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. It’s a natural process that typically begins between ages eight to 14 in girls and 10-16 in boys.

Sugar, aspartame (Equal), sucralose (Splenda) and glycyrrhizin (licorice root) are all significantly associated with a higher risk of early puberty, particularly in genetically predisposed children.

Further, the more of these sweeteners that children consumed, the greater their risk of early puberty, researchers found.

“This study is one of the first to connect modern dietary habits — specifically sweetener intake — with both genetic factors and early puberty development in a large, real-world cohort,” researcher Dr. Yang-Ching Chen, a professor of family medicine at Taipei Municipal Wan Fang Hospital and Taipei Medical University in Taiwan, said.”