Obesity linked to early puberty

[Polly]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17465229/

[gr8mommy]

I think obesity is only one factor. I myself would have been included in their definition of 'early puberty'---I was wearing a training bra at age 9 and got my first period at 10 1/2; that was 30 years ago. I was far from obese, in fact throughout my childhood I was skinny as a rail.

They used to say it was 'better nutrition', then for a while I was hearing rumblings of it being related to hormones given to cows and being in the dairy products. I've also heard that girls who don't have a father living at home with them enter puberty earlier. I don't think they will find any one single cause---other than genetics---that will give them an answer. Throughout all of these different announcements, the only thing no one has refuted is that the younger a woman is when she gets her period, the younger her own daughters are when they get their first one.

[Christine]

I agree. I think it's a combination of things. I tend to lean more towards the hormones in the food theory since it makes perfect logical sense to me.

[Mary]

I'm thinking it's a combination of things, too.

I'm expecting Madalyn to start early but she's not obese; she's just big for her age all the way 'round (she's not yet 6.5 years old and she's already 4 feet, 5.5 inches tall). She also lost teeth early. Her body doesn't seem to realize it's only 6 years old and I'm thinking that will carry over to other things like the start of menstruation.

[Jo]

It makes some sense to me. I don't know that it is the only factor but even if kids aren't obese, many are carrying more weight than previous generations. Our lifestyles allow for it. Rai's early breast buds though are likely tied to her brain issue and not to her chub as she is way early(age 6) and has known neurological issues.

[malcontent]

My mom was only 10 when she got her first period. My paternal grandmother was 9! Neither was overweight, or even close to it, as far as I know.

I was 13, and my sisters were 13 too. I'm glad we developed significantly later than one might have predicted from our mother's experience.

There are probably several factors that can cause early puberty, and obesity is likely one of them.

[Polly]

It's probably a combination of heredity, weight (hey-America IS getting tubbier! I've seen the amount of overweight students increase every year.), hormones in milk (the US Government finally forbid using hormones in chicken), and physiological response to the highly sexualized messages in the media.

Polly