Polygraph

American children are hitting puberty two to three years younger than they did 50 years ago.

Posted by The Joe Rogan Experience, Checked

Polygraph verdictTrue
Sources
4 support1 context
Said
1 time·
Confidence
60%
The Joe Rogan ExperienceNov 6, 2026
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149 claimsThe check →

Several sources report that puberty has moved earlier in the US over decades, and ParentData's comparison (average girl onset around 11 to 11.5 a generation or two ago versus 8 to 9 today, with boys at 9 to 10) fits roughly a two-to-three-year shift.

What was said

… Tell me, let's just set the table, let's set the table about glycol, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me set the table about glyphosate in general. Uhm, America, American children are the sickest children in the developed world. We're hitting puberty much younger than we did 50 years ago, uhm, two to three years. The New York Times recently did an article to say nobody knows why. Uhm, we have the highest rates of autoimmune conditions, hormone conditions, cancer, pediatric cancer, diabetes, you know, every chronic disease you can think of. …
The Joe Rogan Experience · · from the transcriptPost →

What we found

Supports. ParentData reports that puberty began around 11 to 11.5 for most kids a generation or two ago, versus 8 to 9 for the average girl and 9 to 10 for the average boy today, a shift of roughly two to three years.[2]

Supports. CNN's Sanjay Gupta program says the average start of puberty in the US is now 8 for girls and 9 for boys, and that US averages are on the earlier side compared with the world.[3]

Supports. A Texas A&M Vital Record article says the age of puberty has been decreasing in western cultures for decades, and that the average age of American girls' first period fell from 16 or 17 at the turn of the 20th century to 12 or 13 today.[1]

Supports. A JAMA Network Open study covered in National Geographic found that early menarche (before age 11) nearly doubled among US females born 1950 to 2005.[4]

Context. AMBOSS places typical puberty onset around 11 for girls and 13 for boys, a baseline that differs from other sources and makes the exact size of the shift uncertain.[5]

Sources

5 sources: 1 primary, 4 not rated

  1. 1The decreasing age of puberty - Vital Recordvitalrecord.tamu.edu › decreasing-age-pubertyvitalrecord.tamu.edu · primary source · cited for: supports
  2. 2Early Bloomers | ParentData by Emily Osterparentdata.org · not rated · cited for: supports
  3. 3Puberty Is Starting Earlier. Should Parents Worry? - Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta - Podcast on CNN Podcastsedition.cnn.com · not rated · cited for: supports
  4. 4Girls are going through puberty much earlier. There may be several ...nationalgeographic.com · not rated · cited for: supports
  5. 5Puberty - Knowledge @ AMBOSSamboss.com · not rated · cited for: context

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