Obese girls start their period earlier, develop breasts slowly, have acne, and have excess body hair

by



[ad_1]

How WEIGHT can affect puberty: Obese girls are likely to start menstruation earlier but develop breasts more slowly, study finds

  • Researchers studied 90 girls aged 8 to 15, 36 were obese
  • Previous studies have shown obese girls start puberty earlier
  • Obese girls had higher levels of certain key hormones than thin girls
  • Linked to slow breast maturation, irregular periods, acne, and excessive body hair

By Joe Pinkstone For Mailonline

Posted: | Update:

A new study has found that obese girls approaching their teens have elevated hormone levels that can cause them to start their period before their leaner peers.

Overweight girls are also at increased risk for irregular menstrual cycles, delayed breast development, acne, and excessive body hair during puberty.

Previous research has also found that fatter young people start puberty earlier, but the new study is the first evidence as to why this may be the case.

Scroll down the video

Overweight girls are more likely to develop acne and excess body hair during puberty than their thinner peers, study finds (stock)

Overweight girls are more likely to develop acne and excess body hair during puberty than their thinner peers, study finds (stock)

Researchers from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) studied 90 girls aged 8 to 15, 36 obese and 54 of “normal” weight.

They were regularly followed for four years with clinicians doing ultrasounds on their breasts and pelvic areas as well as measuring hormone levels from a blood sample. Each girl also revealed when they got their first period.

“Girls with greater body fat showed higher levels of certain reproductive hormones, including follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), inhibin B, and male-type hormones such as testosterone,” said lead author Dr Natalie Shaw.

Research in the United States has found that girls who carried too much puppy fat had different hormone levels during their teens than someone who had an ideal weight (stock)

Research in the United States found that girls who carried too much puppy fat had different hormone levels during their teens than someone who had an ideal weight

She adds that girls with higher body fat levels, as determined by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) analysis, were also younger at the time of their first period and had delayed breast maturation.

However, body fat and subsequently altered hormone levels did not have a noticeable impact on the development of the uterus and ovaries.

Dr Shaw adds, “The long-term consequences of these differences in markers of puberty merit further study.

The research was published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

A 2007 study followed 354 girls through puberty and found that obese girls had an 80 chance of having their first period before the age of 12.

A correlation has long been observed between weight and puberty, but it was one of the first studies to show that weight likely caused early pubescence, not the other way around.

However, a 2017 study from Imperial College London found that girls who start puberty earlier are also more likely to be overweight in adulthood.

According to Dr Dipender Gill, lead author of the Imperial Study, this was evidence that precocious puberty causes obesity in adulthood.

Dr Gill and Dr Joyce Lee, lead author of the 2007 University of Michigan study, believe they have identified causation, indicating that childhood obesity causes precocious puberty, which results in in turn obesity in adulthood.

However, while the relationship had been established, the exact cause remained unknown.

OBESITY: ADULTS WITH A BMI OVER 30 ARE CONSIDERED OBESE

Obesity is defined as an adult with a BMI of 30 or more.

A healthy person’s BMI – calculated by dividing weight in kg by height in meters, and the answer by height again – is between 18.5 and 24.9.

In children, obesity is defined as being in the 95th percentile.

Percentiles compare young people to others of the same age.

For example, if a three-month-old is in the 40th percentile for weight, that means 40 percent of three-month-olds weigh the same or less as that baby.

In the UK, around 58% of women and 68% of men are overweight or obese.

The condition costs the NHS around £ 6.1bn, out of its budget of around £ 124.7bn, each year.

This is because obesity increases a person’s risk of having a number of life-threatening conditions.

These conditions include type 2 diabetes, which can cause kidney disease, blindness, and even limb amputations.

Research suggests that at least one in six hospital beds in the UK is occupied by a patient with diabetes.

Obesity also increases the risk of heart disease, which kills 315,000 people each year in the UK, making it the leading cause of death.

Carrying dangerous amounts of weight has also been linked to 12 different cancers.

This includes the breast, which affects one in eight women at some point in her life.

In children, research suggests that 70% of obese youth have high blood pressure or high cholesterol, which puts them at risk for heart disease.

Obese children are also much more likely to become obese adults.

And if children are overweight, their obesity in adulthood is often more severe.

In the UK, up to one in five children start school overweight or obese, rising to one in three by the age of 10.



[ad_2]

Source link