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

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How WEIGHT Can Affect Puberty: Obese girls are more likely to start their periods earlier, but breasts develop more slowly, study finds

  • Researchers studied 90 girls between 8 and 15 years old, 36 were obese
  • Previous studies have shown that obese girls enter puberty earlier
  • Obese girls had higher levels of some important hormones than skinny girls
  • Linked to slow breast maturation, irregular periods, acne and excess body hair

By Joe Pinkstone for Mailonline

Published: Updated:

Obese girls approaching adolescence have elevated hormone levels that can cause them to start their periods earlier than their leaner peers, a new study finds.

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

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

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Overweight girls are more likely to develop acne and excessive body hair during puberty than their leaner peers, a study claims (stock)

Overweight girls are more likely to develop acne and excessive body hair during puberty than their leaner peers, a study claims (stock)

Researchers from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) studied 90 girls between 8 and 15 years old, 36 were obese and 54 were of ‘normal’ weight.

They were followed regularly for four years by clinicians who performed ultrasounds on their breasts and pelvic regions, and also measured hormone levels from blood samples. Each girl also revealed when they had their first period.

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

US study found that girls who carry too much puppy fat during their teenage years have different hormone levels than someone of ideal weight (stock)

US study found that girls who carry too much puppy fat during their teenage years have different hormone levels than someone of ideal weight (stock)

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

However, body fat and subsequent altered hormone levels were found to have no discernible influence on uterine and ovarian development.

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

The research is 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 periods before the age of 12.

A link between weight and puberty has long been seen, but this was one of the first studies to show that weight likely caused early puberty, and not the other way around.

However, a 2017 study by Imperial College London found that girls who enter puberty earlier are also more likely to be overweight as adults.

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

Both Dr. Gill and Dr. Joyce Lee, lead author of the 2007 study at the University of Michigan, believe they have identified causality, indicating that childhood obesity causes early puberty and in turn causes obesity in adults.

Although the relationship had come about, the exact cause of it remained unknown.

OBESITY: ADULTS WITH A BMI OVER 30 ARE CONSIDERED AS OBESE

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

The BMI of a healthy person – calculated by dividing weight in kg by height in meters and the answer by height – is between 18.5 and 24.9.

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

Percentiles compare young people with others of the same age.

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

About 58 percent of women and 68 percent of men in the UK are overweight or obese.

The condition costs the NHS about £ 6.1 billion every year, out of its estimated £ 124.7 billion budget.

This is due to obesity which increases a person’s risk of a number of life-threatening conditions.

Such 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 admitted to a diabetic.

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 their lives.

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

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

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

As many as one in five children in the UK go to school who are overweight or obese, rising to one in three by the time they turn 10.

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