Girls that are FAT as kids are ‘FIVE TIMES more likely to be infertile in their 30s due to early menopause’
BEING fat as a child could put women at risk of an early menopause, researchers claim.
Scientists found girls who had their first period aged 11 or younger were 80 per cent more likely to go through “the change” in their 30s.
And they warned childhood obesity is one of the main triggers of early puberty.
Experts also found these women are at an even greater risk of premature menopause if they delay having kids.
They are five times more likely to become infertile in their 30s than women who have later periods and at least two children.
The findings come from one of the biggest ever studies into puberty and the menopause.
It tracked over 50,000 women aged 55 or over from the UK, Scandinavia, Australia and Japan.
The results, in the journal Human Reproduction, showed girls who hit puberty under 11 faced nearly double the risk of menopause at a young age.
Researchers said childhood obesity is one of the biggest factors behind periods starting early.
Britain’s obesity epidemic in youngsters as recently described as a “state of emergency” with one in three too fat when leaving primary school.
Lead researcher Prof Gita Mishra said: “Research has found childhood obesity has established links with having early puberty.
"Our study draws attention to the timing of puberty as having long term consequences.
“If we want to improve health outcomes in the later life, we need to be thinking about the risk factors through the whole of a woman’s life.”
The average age for menopause in the UK is 51 – with around two million Brits affected at any one time.