'Hormonal cocktail' causes bigger breasts

Young women in Rotorua are bigger than they used to be - in the chest at least.
Once considered large, D cup-sized busts are now the norm although many large-breasted young women remain slim elsewhere.
It's a trend that's also being noticed across the country and in Australia where women's health experts blame environmental and hormonal factors.
Australian women's health professor Susan Davis says the combination of early-onset puberty, delaying childbirth and an increase in overall body fat create a "hormonal cocktail" conducive to bigger breasts.
Professor Davis, of Monash University, believes oestrogens in the food chain and exposure to chemicals are causing women's chests to expand. She did not believe that synthetic hormones found in the pill and hormonal replacement therapies were to blame.
Seduction Lingerie Limited in Rotorua will be stocking bras right up to J cup size by summer because the demand for the bigger-sized bra is growing.
Store worker Fleur Bennett says today's young girls are bigger in the chest than those of about 20 years ago. D cups, once considered big, are now quite normal.
However, Seduction Lingerie owner Donna Shannon said despite being large in the bust, women didn't necessarily have bigger bodies.
Teenage girls, some as young as 15, were now coming into the store needing E or F cup bras but the rest of their body fit sizes 8 to 10, she said.
"It's hugely common. I can't get enough E and F sizes."
She said her biggest sellers were size DD, E and F cup bras.
She was unsure why younger girls had bigger busts today but said customers often commented that it was because of the side effects of pumping hormones into chickens.
Traditionally, the bigger-sized bras were a bit boring but Mrs Shannon said they were now coming in prettier styles and colours. Women preferred to buy "nice" bras in the bigger sizes rather than plain ones.
"It makes you feel sexier and nice," Mrs Shannon said.
No matter what size cup a woman wore, it was important to wear a properly fitted bra, she said.
More women were now realising that and staff were getting asked every day to measure customers.
"They're [women] learning it is important to wear the right size, it makes you look better, it makes the difference."
Sheree McKenzie of UnderStatement Lingerie Fashion said she stocked bras up to a K cup and agreed the bigger sizes were getting more colourful. She agreed women were becoming more conscious about making sure they wore the right size.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
* Last year, Bendon reported sales of D to J cup sizes had increased 53 per cent over the past three years in New Zealand.
* Sizes from AA to C cups had increased by just 2 per cent.
* Bras with a D cup or bigger accounted for almost half of all Bendon bras sold in New Zealand.