ABSTRACT
The associations between dietary, body composition and sexual maturation were investigated among Korean girls of pu-bertal age in this study. Dietary intakes were collected by 3 day food records, body compositions were measured by bio-impedence analyzer and sexual maturation stages were determined with a self-administrated questionnaire using Tanner stages in 1,114 girls 9 - 13 years of age. Girls were divided into early maturation ( EM) and late maturation ( LM) , ba-sed on the comparative maturation stages of breast and pubic hair among the same age groups by months. Subjects were excluded if their stage of maturation could not be divided into early and late groups. EM and LM groups consisted of 42.8% and 38.9% of subjects by breast stage and 67.4% and 22.8% by pubic hair stage. Girls in LM group had signifi-cantly lower in height, weight and bone mineral contents ( p < 0.05) . When nutrient densities of average daily intake of the two groups were compared, folate density was significantly higher among the LM group of breast stages ( p < 0.01) , and Ca, P, K, Vit. B 1 , Vit. B 2 and folate densities were significantly higher among the LM group of pubic hair stages ( p < 0.05) . These results show that intakes of some micronutrients differ between children with faster and slower sexual maturation velocities at early pubertal stages. More longitudinal studies are needed to confirm whether such differences are consis-tent throughout the pubertal period.