03/05/2007: According to a study commissioned by Motts Children’s Hospital at the University of Michigan, 3-year-old girls who were obese–acording to Body Mass Index (BMI)–and gained weight during the next three years, entered puberty by age 9.

Before delving into the matter, I will provide the following caveat: I am not generally a believer in BMI as a reliable indicator of obesity. People who have active lifestyles that include weightlifting or running or–in my case–10+ hours on the exercise bike every week, are likely to have BMI levels indicative of overweight while having very low body fat and strong muscle content. On the other hand, for 3-year-olds, that might not be a factor.

Because puberty involves significant changes in hormones and bodily reactions thereto, that might also give rise to a link to other health problems that could be hormone-related, such as breast cancer. It would also be interesting to see if childhood obesity plays a role in the development of diabetes (both type I and type II), as well as heart and cholesterol problems.

At any rate, parents would do well to ensure that their children are properly nourished–with junk food consumption moderated–and get plenty of exercise and recreation.

Moral of the story: make sure your kids eat their vegetables, and minimize their time spent vegetating.