Obese girls tend to mature sexually sooner than their non-obese peers. Until recently, there's been little research on how obesity affects sexual maturity in boys.
Researchers at the University of Chicago evaluated data on 1,500 girls and 1,520 boys, looking at their height, weight, skinfold thickness, and when they began to show signs of sexual maturity. The children were categorized into two categories - early maturers and "other" (average and late maturers).
After adjusting for age, ethnicity, residence, family income, energy intake, and physical activity levels, two relationships were found. As expected, overweight girls matured sexually earlier than normal weight or underweight girls. For boys the opposite is true. Obese boys matured sexually later than their normal weight or underweight peers. Thin boys matured earliest.
Childhood obesity causes many health problems - some immediate, some long term. Many questions remain to be answered about how obesity affects health and maturation.
Pediatrics, 11/02, pp. 903-910.
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