It's official Northland breasts are getting bigged

It's not just your imagination. Breasts really are getting bigger.
Northland lingerie specialists confirm the findings of bra manufacturers and a women's health expert, saying D and E cup bras - once considered unusually large - are now ordinary.
Anne Corbett, owner of Anne of Craicor in Kerikeri, said when she started working for Bendon in the late 1960s the average bra was a 12B. Now the standard size was a 12D.
Not only was the average breast getting larger, girls were also getting big earlier. The change could not be put down to obesity because many of the girls who came in for fittings were otherwise small-framed.
"They're getting big and out of trainer bras younger and younger ... I'm stocking more 10C and 10D bras then I ever used to. They just sell out."
The younger girls in particular felt self-conscious, and needed to wear a proper sports bra if playing netball or jogging to avoid damaging their breast tissue.
Mrs Corbett was at a loss to explain the trend, but ventured, "it's got to be something in our food".
Sue Hoyle, owner of the Blue Room in Whangarei's Strand Arcade, said she had "definitely" seen an increase in bust sizes during her eight years in the business.
She stocked everything from AA to H, but in the past four years had had to expand her range of E, F and G cups.
"I'm getting girls aged 15 and under who are being fitted with E cups," she said "Is it lifestyle? Is it food? We're evolving, and no one can really say why."
At the other age extreme, Mrs Hoyle said many of her customers had been through menopause and were shocked to discover they'd gone from a B to a D.
"Women forget menopause is another hormonal change, like puberty. It's common for breast size to change later in life."
About 80 per cent of women wore bras that were too small, so once they had been properly fitted they were surprised to find out their real size.
Those observations are backed by underwear manufacturer Bendon, which reported sales of D to J cup sizes had increased 53 per cent over the past three years. Over the same period sales of AA to C cups had increased by a mere two per cent.
Bras with a D cup or bigger now account for almost half of all Bendon bras sold in New Zealand.
Women's health professor Susan Davis, of Melbourne's Monash University, said a combination of early-onset puberty, delaying childbirth and an increase in overall body fat could be creating a "hormonal cocktail" conducive to bigger breasts.
She believed oestrogens in the food chain and exposure to chemicals could also be making women's chests expand.
One popular theory - that it's caused by growth hormones given to chickens - can be discounted. While New Zealand chickens are fed antibiotics, giving them growth hormones is illegal.