The study, published today in the American journal of epidemiology, involved more than 15,000 girls ages 6 to 11 in Northern California, with the help of doctors reports on the development of children for the analysis.
Normal age for girls to start puberty is from 8 to 13 years, with the onset of puberty starts when a girl under the age of 8.
Research — when accounting for factors such as maternal age, ethnicity and level of education, when she gives birth, and whether she smokes — found that early puberty was 39 percent more often among girls born to mothers who are obese, and 21 percent more likely among people with overweight mothers.
Photo/Getty ImagesA girl pictured in this undated photo.
The gap was even larger when compared to girls, overweight and underweight mothers. Daughter full mothers the onset of puberty by an average of seven months earlier than those who are underweight mother.
It is already known that a mother’s weight can affect the weight of her child.
But this is the first large-scale study that shows that it can also affect the age at which the daughter reaches puberty. Researchers believe that the Association might be related to the development of the fetus in the womb.
“What we learn is that the intrauterine environment may affect the timing of future pubertal development,” AI Kubo, a research scientist at Kaiser permanente in Northern California and one of the authors of the study, said in a press release. “[It] makes no sense, because the human brain develops in the womb, the brain secretes hormones that affect puberty”.
Photo/Getty ImagesTwo girls walking on the field in this undated photo.
Early puberty may be due to a number of health problems.
Girls who undergo puberty early are known to experience higher levels of depression and anxiety. Later in life they are more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes, cardiac diseases and some of the breast and reproductive cancers.
However, this study does not follow girls puberty early or to measure the rate at which they suffered such health problems. The researchers also looked at only the age girls started puberty, not the time.
Photo/Getty ImagesA girl playing hide and seek outdoors in this undated photo.
When comparing girl groups, based on ethnicity, the study showed that the relationship between maternal weight and daughter’s age at onset of puberty was strongest for children of Asian ethnicity. Girls are born with excessive body weight Asian mothers was 53 percent more likely to start puberty earlier than the daughters of Asian mothers with normal weight.
American girls generally began in recent years, puberty begins at an earlier age, partly due to higher rates of childhood obesity.
However, the average age of puberty has decreased for children who are not overweight, leading doctors think that other factors in addition to the girl weight may be involved.
Although this study adjusted for a number of factors, including the weight of the child up to sexual maturity and age of the mother and whether she smokes — he is not sure that every possible factor that may affect the onset of puberty to occur.
The study also found that girls born to mothers with hyperglycemia, high blood sugar levels, were more likely to start puberty early.
Interestingly, no such Association when the mother had gestational diabetes, a condition in which the blood sugar level temporarily increased during pregnancy. Researchers believe that this may be because women with this diagnosis took extra care about their health.
“It is possible that women diagnosed with gestational diabetes were more careful about weight and diet, which may have changed the amount to gain weight,” cube suggested.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
