. . .On my way to meet her that Saturday, my mind wandered back over our long relationship. We were both about six when I received her as a gift one holiday morning. I loved her instantly, with her perfect, dancer’s figure, dainty feet, luscious red lips and coy expression. My affection for high-heeled mules persists to this day. So young and innocent then, who could have known we would both end up as Rorschach tests for society’s changing notions of femininity, alternately blamed for everything from anorexia to promiscuity and hailed as icons of sexual liberation. It’s not easy being blonde and from California.
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Childhood obesity in the United States appears to be causing girls to reach puberty at an earlier age, for reasons that are not clear, a study said Monday.
The report from the University of Michigan’s Mott Children’s Hospital said a multiyear study following a group of 354 girls found that those who were fatter at age 3 and who gained weight during the next three years reached puberty, as defined by breast development, by age 9.
“Our finding that increased body fatness is associated with the earlier onset of puberty provides additional evidence that growing rates of obesity among children in this country may be contributing to the trend of early maturation in girls,” said Dr. Joyce Lee, the lead author.
“Previous studies had found that girls who have earlier puberty tend to have higher body mass index, but it was unclear whether puberty led to the weight gain or weight gain led to the earlier onset of puberty,” she added.
“Our study offers evidence that it is the latter,” Lee said.
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