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Obesity Versus Puberty
There are a lot of reasons to make sure your kids aren’t overweight — general health, acceptance among their peers, ability to participate in sports — not to mention it simply costs less to feed kids less. For girls, “it’s pretty well established in girls that puberty starts earlier” if they are obese during their early years, says Dr. Jennifer Helmcamp, a pediatrician specializing in obesity with Scott & White Healthcare. But what about boys?
According to Dr. Joyce Lee, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of Michigan, “there was a paucity of studies in boys.” Dr. Lee is the lead author of a new study looking at the connection between weight and puberty in boys. Her research found that boys who are obese are twice as likely to have not started puberty by the age of 11 as are kids of normal weight. The study, which followed more than 400 boys, found that 14 percent of overweight lads had not started puberty at the end of the study as compared to 7 percent of normal-weight boys.
While this may not seem a big deal to many, there are implications, as Dr. David Ludwig, director of the obesity program at Children’s Hospital in Boston, points out. “This could add a further burden to obese, adolescent boys,” he says. “For [a boy] that may already be teased because of his appearance, delayed puberty could further increase the stigmatization.”
So now there’s another reason for all of us to make sure our kids are healthy — as if we needed another. “I think the fact that obesity could affect how they currently grow and develop could be of greater concern to parents because that affects them in the short term,” says Dr. Lee. What do you think?
Photo: clarita
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