"In girls, excess weight is associated with earlier onset of pubertyopens in a new tab or window. Pediatricians should consider the possibility that delayed puberty in boys may be due to obesity."
Puberty looks different, in terms of both reproductive hormones and breast maturation, in girls with excess total body fat, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Puberty is the process by which children develop secondary sexual characteristics and reproductive capacity. Nutrition plays a key role in the timing and tempo of pubertal development. Obesity and increased adiposity may alter hormone secretion and sensitivity, including leptin and insulin.
In girls at least, research suggests a possible link between early puberty and obesity. "A number of studies have shown that girls who are overweight are more likely to have puberty early, and that girls who are underweight -- and especially anorexic -- undergo puberty later," says Kaplowitz.
Poor nutrition alters the ratio of lean mass to body fat and delays the onset of menarche. In the US, the age at menarche decreased by 3 years since 1840 due to improvements in the population's nutritional status. Underweight females generally experience menarche at later ages than normal weight females.
Obesity and height are generally unassociated in adults. However, in children, previous research consistently finds a positive association between obesity and height(Bruch, 1939; Freedman et al., 2004a; Freedman et al., 2004b; Stovitz et al., 2008).
Most often, children simply develop later than their peers but ultimately develop normally. Sometimes, delayed puberty is caused by chronic medical problems, hormonal disorders, radiation therapy or chemotherapy, disordered eating or excessive exercise, genetic disorders, tumors, and certain infections.
Changing Body Shape
Boys tend to look a little chubby and gangly (long arms and legs compared to the trunk) just prior to and at the onset of puberty. They start to experience a growth spurt as they progress further into puberty, with the peak occurring during the later stages of sexual maturation.
Obese children usually present with greater height than their normal weight peers although they do not tend to attain taller height as adults16-18. The increased linear growth is associated with accelerated skeletal maturation.
Consuming an adequate and balanced healthy diet during all phases of growth (infancy, childhood and puberty) appears necessary both for proper growth and normal pubertal development. Girls begin puberty at an earlier age compared to past decades.
Because your height is determined by your skeleton and not your body fat, you should not lose height with weight. However, some people have experienced a reduction of height, which is usually discovered during a visit to the doctor's office. Changes in height may be explained through some common causes.
Puberty in women normally occurs between 11 and 14 years of age. If a child reaches a particular weight (around 45 kg or 100 lb), the onset of puberty is triggered. The heavier the child, the earlier puberty occurs, possibly affecting risk of later disease.
Obesity affects some groups more than others
The obesity prevalence was 39.8% among adults aged 20 to 39 years, 44.3% among adults aged 40 to 59 years, and 41.5% among adults aged 60 and older.
Obesity may be associated with increased tissue bulk in the laryngeal airway, neck, and chest wall, and as such may affect vocal function.
Studies have shown that excess weight and obesity affect the start of puberty differently for boys and girls. In girls, it can cause early puberty and in boys it can delay puberty.
As the testicles grow, skin of the scrotum darkens, enlarges, thins, hangs down from the body, and becomes dotted with tiny hair follicles. These changes may occur between ages 9-14, with an average age of 11.
It can start as early as age 9. Puberty is a process that takes place for several years. Most girls finish puberty by age 14. Most boys finish puberty by age 15 or 16.
In the category of children with lower BMI and later onset of puberty, the spurt was all the stronger. Those whose puberty was delayed also had several extra years to grow in, and quite simply ended up taller.
Delayed puberty affects about 2% of adolescents. Most commonly, puberty may be delayed for several years and still occur normally, in which case it is considered constitutional delay of growth and puberty, a common variation of healthy physical development.
In most cases, delayed puberty is nothing to worry about. Every kid is different and some just start sexual development later than others. But in some cases, there is a medical cause for the delay that requires treatment.
A woman is extremely obese if she's 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighs 235 pounds, making her BMI 40.3 kg/m2. To reach a healthy BMI of 24.8, she would have to lose 90 pounds to reach a weight of 145 pounds. A man is extremely obese if he's 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weighs 315 pounds, making his BMI 40.4 kg/m2.
Individuals are usually considered morbidly obese if their weight is more than 80 to 100 pounds above their ideal body weight. A BMI above 40 indicates that a person is morbidly obese and therefore a candidate for bariatric surgery.
Mostly, losing weight is an internal process. You will first lose hard fat that surrounds your organs like liver, kidneys and then you will start to lose soft fat like waistline and thigh fat. The fat loss from around the organs makes you leaner and stronger.
If there's one thing that almost everyone in the gym can agree on, it's that losing weight is a heck of a lot easier than gaining muscle. And while there are certainly exceptions to this rule, for the most part, it's true. So if you're looking to drop a few pounds before summer hits, read on – you're in luck!