Genetic Study Links Childhood Weight Gain To Early Puberty In Girls

In a new breakthrough, an international team of scientists has identified genes that have an indirect influence on when girls have their first period by accelerating weight gain during their childhood. The team headed by the University of Cambridge extrapolated the data by analyzing the DNA of around 8 lakh women from different countries such as Europe, North America, China, Japan, and Korea.

The results which were published in the Journal Nature Genetics, exhibited more than 1000 variants or small changes in DNA that play a role in influencing the age at which the first menstrual period occurs. Out of these around 600 variants were analysed for the first time, the team stated.

Normally the usual occurrence of periods takes place between the ages of 10 and 15, but the age at which girls experience their first menstrual periods has been progressively decreasing in recent decades.

A Proper Analysis Required

While there is no concrete analysis for this and reasons underlying the cause are yet not fully understood, the study revealed that 45 percent of the identified genetic variants influenced puberty indirectly through promoting weight gain during early childhood.

“Many of the genes we’ve found influence early puberty by first accelerating weight gain in infants and young children. This can then lead to potentially serious health problems in later life, as having earlier puberty leads to higher rates of overweight and obesity in adulthood,” said Professor John Perry, at the varsity’s Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit.

What The Data States

The scientists also observed rare genetic variants that only a few people have, which can have a significant effect on puberty. As per their analysis, they found out that 3800 women who carry variants in the gene ZNF483, had experienced puberty on an average 1.3 years later.

Dr. Katherine Kentistou, lead study investigator said that the team “identified six genes which all profoundly affect the timing of puberty”. Besides causing early onset of periods in girls, these genes often had “the same impact on the timing of puberty in boys”.

The team had also curated a genetic score that could predict whether a girl was likely to hit puberty early or late. Girls who scored in the highest 1% for this genetic score were 11 times more likely to experience puberty after age 15, a condition researchers described as significantly delayed. Conversely, girls with the lowest 1% genetic score were 14 times more likely to undergo extremely early puberty before age 10.

“In the future, we may be able to use these genetic scores in the clinic to identify those girls whose puberty will come very early or very late,” senior researcher Ken Ong, an investigator with the University of Cambridge Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit, said in a news release.

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