Signs of Puberty Seen Earlier in White Girls

Fat parents have fat kids with early-onset puberty.

The number of white girls developing signs of puberty at a younger age has almost doubled since the late 1990s, researchers found.

A longitudinal study of more than 1,200 girls examined between 2004 and 2006 found that 10.4% of the white 7-year-old girls had begun to mature -- as determined by the presence of palpable breast buds -- according to Frank Biro, MD, of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, and colleagues...

Increases in body mass index may be to blame for earlier maturation, Biro told MedPage Today.

"Our study comes on the other side of the obesity epidemic that's occurred not only in this country but other countries around the world," he said, "and we think that one of the more important contributing factors is the higher body mass index in the girls in the 21st century."

Kudos, fatsos.