A study following over 400 boys shows that those who are obese are twice as likely as their normal-weight counterparts not to have started puberty by the age of 11 and a half. Obesity may cause a maturity delay in boys, a situation with unknown and possibly far-reaching effects.
In the new study, it was found that 14 percent of obese boys had not started puberty by the end of the study, while only 7 percent of normal weight boys had not.
One possible reason is that fat tissue converts male hormones into the female hormone estrogen, which could delay puberty in boys.