Overweight vs. Obese Boys Experience Different Rates of Puberty

A study titled, “Timing of Puberty in Overweight Versus Obese Boys” being published  of Pediatrics used a large, racially diverse, community-based sample of US boys from the American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP’s) Pediatric Research in Office Settings (PROS) studies, to look at the timing of puberty across different weight categories.

Researchers found evidence of earlier puberty for overweight boys – compared with normal or obese boys – and later puberty for obese boys compared with normal and overweight boys. Previous studies have found that adipose tissue may lead to excess estrogen production in boys.
This lead the authors speculate that given the earlier onset of puberty for overweight boys, and the later onset of puberty for obese boys, greater estrogen production in the obese boys could be suppressing the pubertal process for obese, but not overweight, boys.