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I read this article on CNN Health: (http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/parenting/03/05/weight.puberty.reut/index.html)

It very briefly states the main points of a recent finding that girls who are overweight toddlers (around age 3) are more likely to start puberty earlier and become overweight adolescents.

"Earlier onset of puberty in girls has been associated with a number of adverse outcomes, including psychiatric disorders and deficits in psychosocial functioning, earlier initiation of alcohol use, sexual intercourse and teenage pregnancy and increased rates of adult obesity and reproductive cancers," the study claims.

What is it about the combination of brain chemicals and a higher BMI that causes these psychological side effects? I am skeptical of this study simply because it gives no details as to how it was conducted, who conducted it, and what the original hypothesis was. I am also interested in why they chose only girls to study. Is there a different psychological weight phenomenon occuring with boys? If so, what, and why?