Childhood Obesity Brings on Early Puberty?
An intriguing study to be published in Pediatrics links Childhood obesity in girls to the onset of their first period.
The dire health effects associated with the ballooning waistlines of children and adolescents in the United States have prompted the American Heart Association to launch a new initiative targeting childhood obesity.
“Although we have been involved in this issue and the overall issue of children’s heart health for some time, this is the first time that we are taking it to the level of creating a movement that is ‘for kids and by kids,’” according to Dr. Robert H. Eckel, of the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center.
Apparently onset of puberty is down 2.5 months from what it was 25-30 years ago.
There are two theories as to the correlation between weight and onset of puberty:
One theory holds that excess body fat is a kind of reproductive signal that a girl is now healthy enough to sustain a pregnancy. The recent discovery of a fat-cell hormone called leptin “suggests a mechanism by which that might actually happen,” Must said.
The second theory rests on skeletal maturity. “We know that children who are overweight have advanced bone development - they grow faster in all ways, and they are usually taller than their non-overweight peers,” Must said. “That same sort of growth promotion could be linked to the early onset of the maturational change.”
Long-Term Consequences of Childhood Obesity
In one study among overweight children, 77% remained obese into a adulthood, although another study suggested that the risk for persistently high weight was significant only in obese children age 13 and over.
It is not exactly clear if being overweight as a child confers health risks later on if the child achieves normal weight in adulthood. A 2001 study reported that obesity in childhood was not related to any excess health risk. Nevertheless some experts believe that a sudden increase in heart attacks and the rise in type 1 diabetes among young people may be associated with the parallel dramatic increase in obesity. It may also explain the decreasing age for puberty in girls.
It is important to note that the researchers did not feel that there was an opposite relationship - i.e. early menarche does not imply a tendency towards Obesity in adulthood.
Revision date: June 18, 2011
Last revised: by Janet A. Staessen, MD, PhD