Association between Dietary Habits and Parental Health with Obesity among Children with Precocious Puberty

Yong Hee Hong,Yeon Ju Woo,Jong Hyun Lee,Hee-Sook Lim,Young-Lim Shin

doi:10.3390/children7110220

Yong Hee Hong, Yeon Ju Woo + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/children7110220

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Abstract

Precocious puberty, resulting in various physical, mental, and social changes, may have negative consequences for children and their families. In this study, we investigated whether there were differences between parental obesity, children’s and parent’s awareness of body shape, and dietary habits according to obesity levels in children with precocious puberty. A total of 193 children (93.3% girls) diagnosed with precocious puberty were classified into three groups according to their obesity levels. Negative body shape awareness and dissatisfaction were significantly higher in the obese group than in the normal-weight group, and parents were more likely to perceive their children as fat than the children themselves. In addition, the obesity rate of parents in the obese group was higher, and the body mass indexes of children and parents were significantly correlated. The nutrition quotients (NQs) were revealed to be significantly lower in the obese group with significantly lower scores. The significant factors related to obesity were the awareness of a fatty body image and dissatisfaction, obesity of the parents, and the NQ. The results show that obese children with precocious puberty were more vulnerable to negative lifestyle, family environment, and self-esteem effects than their normal-weight peers. Therefore, various interventions, such as environmental management, psychological support, and nutrition education, are needed that focus on the obesity and health conditions of children with precocious puberty.

Highlights

Precocious puberty is defined as the onset of secondary sexual characteristics before the age of 8 years in females and 9 years in males [1]
One reason for the rapid increase in precocious puberty is the consumption of high-calorie, high-fat foods; these habits are closely related with childhood obesity
Central precocious puberty was diagnosed when secondary sexual characteristics appeared before the age of 8 years in girls and 9 years in boys, bone age was advanced for the patient’s chronological age, and the maximum luteinizing hormone level was higher than 5 IU/L in a Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) stimulation test [10]

Summary

Introduction

Precocious puberty is defined as the onset of secondary sexual characteristics before the age of 8 years in females and 9 years in males [1] It is categorized as central or peripheral precocious puberty depending on the primary cause; central ( known as true) precocious puberty is a result of premature activation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis. It occurs more frequently in girls than boys, and most cases of precocious puberty in girls are idiopathic. Several possible causes for the recent rapid increase in the reported incidences of precocious puberty and medical treatment for it have been proposed, including increases in childhood obesity, opportunities to exposure to sexual stimulation through TV and the Internet, environmental hormones. Hormone production may be influenced by obesity due to overeating, stress, and environmental factors [4,5,6]

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