Obesity and Puberty in Boys

Obesity may delay onset of puberty in boys.
The Los Angeles Times (2/1, Healy) "Booster Shots" blog reported, "While obesity has been shown to bring on puberty earlier in girls," a paper appearing in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine reveals something quite different: "Male children whose body-mass index (BMI) is consistently highest through early and mid-childhood are significantly more likely than thinner boys to have delayed puberty."
In fact, after "analyzing the records of 401 boys from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds in ten regions of the US," University of Michigan researchers discovered that "at 11.5 years, boys with the highest body mass index (mean BMI z score=1.84) were 165% more likely to be prepubertal than the thinnest boys," MedPage Today (2/1, Emery) reported. Notably, "rates of obesity among American girls and boys have nearly tripled since the 1960s."
Surgeon General's obesity plan said to be "sensible." In "The Checkup" blog of the Washington Post (2/1), Jennifer LaRue Huget writes that the Surgeon General's plan to combat obesity "got surprisingly little press coverage." Huget attributes this to it being a "sensible, seemingly heart-felt document" that doesn't call for governmental intervention. "Instead, it talks about personal responsibility, about communities working together, about grassroots efforts," and "places the onus for weight loss squarely on the shoulders of individuals." Huget asserts that "is not what many people want to hear -- or expect to hear in these paternalistic days."