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Childhood obesity could lead to premature pubertyChildhood obesity could lead to premature puberty
spectrachic311 said: "This is definitely an issue for girls, considering that fat is where estrogen is stored in women/girls. The more fat you have, the more estrogen you store and the earlier you'll hit puberty. I hit puberty at 11-12 and I was one of the "early bloomers" of my class. (I still remember being in 6th grade and my mother making me carry a purse full of maxi pads around once a month. Yeah, like no one knew what was going on :P) I wasn't obese, but I was a bit fatter than most of my friends, for sure. I can believe that obese girls could easily begin puberty at 8 or so. I've noticed it's a lot more common for 4th and 5th grade girls to start menstruating nowdays.
Also, being obese can lead to an increased risk of breast cancer in women because of the increased amounts of estrogen you store. Just one more reason to watch your body fat % as you age."
klynnfosh said: "I agree that growth hormones are playing a big part in the early onset of puberty in our youth. I am sure being overweight just means they have consumed even more of the these hormones and it may kick there body into puberty even earlier. It is becoming a real problem with young girls looking way older than they are and causing problems with men that are looking for a younger woman, if you know what I mean! We have enough problems with young girls being preyed upon and I think it really adds to the problem."
Diamond said: "I've always wondered if the foods that kids eat had anything to do with them
"looking so much older," if you know what I mean.
I was checking out MSNBC and found this article to be interesting.
[URL="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17465229/"]Obesity responsible for early puberty.[/URL]
It doesn't seem like that crazy of a theory to me. How about you?"
lakelady said: "Interesting article. I have an additional theory. I think that the early onset of puberty in overweight girls could have something to do with all the growth hormones in our food supply. I base this on the fact that there has been an increased incidence of early puberty in normal weight pre-teens as well. I chalk the greater incidence in overweight girls up to the fact that they are over eating, so it follows that they are getting even more exposure to these hormones than overweight girls."
**Shorti** said: "Spectra, I totally agree! I was one of the early bloomers as well. 2nd in my class come to think of it. I was also the largest in my class. Not only was I an outcast based on that but I also had to carry around the 'purse' so it was like double-time rejection for my 'weirdness'. I wish our school would have stocked the restrooms for us, but the machine things were always empty. I went to a private school so the whole 'puberty' thing was WAY hush hush. We watched 2 videos together as an entire class. I never even got the sex talk from my mom. She just put an always pamphlet in my bedroom one morning and I was like "what is this?" The rest I learned through osmosis from others in middle school and high school. I wish I would have known more back then, I wouldnt have felt so weird and scared about everything.
I think lakelady has a good point about the hormones thing. Sounds like a solid theory. I would encourage parents to go orangic if it means a lot for you to avoid early puberty, like if your teen is at risk for it. I dont think a girls emotional state is prepared for puberty at 10-12...I think we need to try and push it back to 14-16 where it belongs and they are mature enough to handle it."