Add one more reason to the long list of reasons to support Michelle Obama's initiative to prevent childhood obesity: it will help reverse the trend of girls starting puberty at younger and younger ages.  A new study shows a rapid trending downwards of the average age of girls beginning puberty, and the escalating rates of childhood obesity are being eyeballed as the likely culprit.

There's some suggestion that environmental estrogens could play a role, but that's unproven, while it's well-known that body fat does produce hormones that can kick start puberty.  Granted, it's not an either/or situation---it's possible that a combination of environmental influences and increased body fat play a role.  Nonetheless, the relationship between weight and puberty isn't, from what I understand at least, particularly controversial.  It makes evolutionary sense that the body would start puberty once enough fat has accumulated that the body can support a pregnancy, and of course we know that severe anorexics often stop menstruating once they drop below a certain amount of body fat.  As long as everything's working properly, the biology of all this is pretty neat.  I recall from Natalie Angier's book Woman: An Intimate Geography the general rule that menstruation begins after a girl reaches a certain weight, usually around 100 pounds.  If you're not overweight, this usually happens right before you teenage years, but as kids get fatter younger, we're seeing puberty start to happen at much younger ages, at least in girls.  In this study, 10% of white girls, 23% of black girls, and 15% of Hispanic girls age 7 had enough breast tissue to have started puberty.

What to make of all this?  It's true---and most women can attest to this reality---that once your hips and breasts start to come in, harassment from men follows shortly thereafter, and this can be traumatic for very young girls.  I bristle at the notion that the solution for this is preventing early puberty instead of fighting a culture that turns a blind eye to men harassing women on the street.  Instead of manipulating girls' bodies, why not manipulate the culture to accept girls as they are?

However, men harassing young women isn't the only consideration on the table.  There's an problem when the age of sexual maturation predates emotional maturation, and that gap increasing isn't something to wave off. Adolescence is hard enough without extending the number of years you have to suffer it into elementary school.  And, as the researchers pointed out, the earlier you go through puberty the higher your chances of suffering from various cancers later in life.  As preventing too much weight gain in childhood is something theoretically in the realm of control, it's a place to focus efforts.

Photograph of Michelle Obama in her White House vegetable garden by Paul J. Richards/AFP.

Tags: childhood obesity, early puberty

In a common sense world, there would be no controversy over including contraception in the slate of preventive services that the federal government will soon require insurance companies to offer at no cost to their customers.  Fairness alone should justify it, but there's also the fact that it's universally agreed that the results of not using contraception—unwanted pregnancy, abortion, teenage pregnancy—are best avoided.  But the Heritage Foundation and the National Abstinence Education Association are demanding that the federal government make an exception in the new rules for contraception.  As usual, I'm forced to think that perhaps the anti-choice movement actually prefers a high unwanted pregnancy rate, and therefore a high abortion rate, since they work so hard to preserve it.

Co-pays on birth control currently run anywhere from a reasonable $15 a month to upwards of $50 a month. While this may not seem like a huge deal to many, sadly there are a lot of women who find that birth control pills are priced out of their range.  The Guttmacher Institute found that 18 percent of women on the pill in households that make less that $75,000 a year have resorted to inconsistent pill use to save money.  Of course, if you're in a position where a $50 co-pay stresses your finances that much, you're probably even less likely to be up for having the baby if you get pregnant, and that much more likely to get an abortion.  There's a reason that the United States has the highest teen pregnancy and abortion rates in the developed world, and that's because we're just not as good at using consistent contraception.  And that it's a major hassle and expense to get it is a big part of the reason.

The increasingly standard pro-choice adage—anti-abortion groups, when given a choice between preventing abortion and punishing female sexuality, will choose the latter every time—holds up once again.  I'm almost embarrassed for them at this point, since the bait is offered and they can't help but take it.

Photograph of birth control pills by Tim Matsui/Getty Images News.

Tags: abortion, contraception, health care reform, teen pregnancy

Right in time for the new season of everyone's favorite sexy-patriarchy show, Christina Hendricks graces the cover of Health magazine, looking particularly gorgeous. In the interview, she talks about her gym routine and her positive body image, noting that the 15 pounds she gained on a trip to Italy made her feel so great she decided to keep the pounds around:

I guess my mom raised me right. She was very celebratory of her body. I never heard her once say, 'I feel fat.' Back when I was modeling, the first time I went to Italy I was having cappuccinos every day, and I gained 15 pounds. And I felt gorgeous! I would take my clothes off in front of the mirror and be like, Oh, I look like a woman. And I felt beautiful, and I never tried to lose it, 'cause I loved it.

This is refreshing: a famous actress saying that it's not just OK to gain weight, it's desirable. (Not that her curves haven't been celebrated before; Hendricks is essentially the go-to gal of curvy girl tokenism.) Too bad the message comes packaged along with the bold headline on the cover: "Lose 6 lbs in seven days!"

Photograph of Christina Hendricks by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images Entertainment.

Tags: body image, Christina Hendricks, health

KJ, I have to disagree when it comes to the CSPI's fight against the Happy Meal. The fact that consumers make poor choices doesn't absolve companies for peddling their toxic wares. This is doubly true when it comes to children. While one can reasonably argue that an adult owns full responsibility for making poor nutrition choices, a child should not be made to suffer because she has weak-willed parents who give in to whining. Since the problem of ill health due to poor nutrition creates widespread social problems, it's perfectly legitimate to seek widespread solutions such as destroying the Happy Meal.

On that subject, I have to say that if Michelle Obama is interested in reducing the rate of childhood obesity, maybe one interesting avenue to be explored is fighting against the negative, hypercompetitive world of children's sports. Or, at least, that's an idea that popped into my head reading this article by Lisa Boone about when it's a good time to let kids quit sports. The article isn't really focused on the importance of physical activity per se, but the image painted of coaches of children's sports—mini-tyrants who far prefer the stick to the carrot and who drive all but the most dedicated away from sports—goes a long way toward explaining why so many children start to shun physical activity as not for them.

The snarling, right-wing cliche about the evils of giving every kid a trophy is on full display here. You'd think that was something new, when I recall having a participation trophy or two displayed in my room more than two decades ago. But the belief that we shouldn't offer encouragement to kids until after they're winners is especially lethal when we're talking about physical activity. Being proud of yourself for just getting out there and doing it is a key component to physical fitness as an adult. The people who get up every day and get some real exercise do so because they're proud of themselves even if all their hard work doesn't turn them into professional athletes.

Photograph of Michelle Obama and gym class by Yuri Gripas/Getty Images.

Tags: childhood obesity, children's sports, McDonald's

On the subject of food allergies, there are two major camps: The skeptics who believe it's all in your head, and the believers who get wildly defensive when they come across skeptics, reminding everyone in sight that food allergies are a very big deal. (Don't forget that horrible episode of Freaks and Geeks!) Skeptics can't help but notice that a few years ago, no one had even heard of gluten-free food, much less started restaurants dedicated solely to selling it. Believers swear up and down that they or their loved ones' health improved tremendously when the loathed food was finally singled out and shunned. The two camps are polarized in a way that makes modern politics seem like a tea party, and so there's not a lot of room for those of us who consider ourselves moderates in the debate—people who believe that food allergies are a very big deal, but also that they're way overdiagnosed by both doctors and people who wake up one day and blame gluten for all their problems.

This New York Times article gives the moderates a boost. Dr. Marc Riedl, an immunologist from UCLA, has released a report indicating that food allergies are real, but wildly overreported—5 percent of adults actually have them, but 30 percent of adults believe they do. No mention of how many adults don't claim food allergies, but still avoid eating gluten because they assume something must be wrong with it because of all the attention it gets. Riedl argues that people call themselves "allergic" to food that simply gives them indigestion, something that will no doubt cheer many skeptics.

However, Riedl also rolls up people who have legitimate intolerances into the "not a food allergy" category, which seems a little unfair. Many people simply don't know the difference, but that doesn't mean that their negative reactions to lactose or sulfites aren't real. It's an innocent mistake, and perhaps educating people about the very real differences between common intolerances and genuine food allergies would make the latter easier to spot.

In the meantime, I'm sure drug companies that sell antacids and gas pills will be heartened to hear that perhaps most people who think they have food allergies would be better off reaching for a bottle of these common medications.

Tags: food allergies

—The second coming of the IUD: A new generation of young women embrace the intrauterine device after a decades-long ban. [Newsweek]

—Can insomnia help treat depression? [New York Times]

—Tiger Woods needs more than a Masters win to repair his image. [Washington Post]

—A California man was arrested for threatening to kill Nancy Pelosi. [Politico]

—The return of big hair, courtesy of New Jersey. [New York Times]

—Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer finds redemption in Slate and television punditry. [New York Times]

—Republican stars Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann team up for the first time to campaign for Bachmann’s re-election in Minnesota. [Washington Post]

Tags: adultery, birth control, depression, Eliot Spitzer, golf, health, insomnia, IUD, Michele Bachmann, Nancy Pelosi, politics, right wing nuts, Sarah Palin, tiger woods

If you lusted after Lady Gaga’s Kermit-head coat, wait till you see Brazilian artist Adriana Bertini’s rubber oeuvre. Inspired by her work with HIV-positive children, this former Greenpeace activist uses factory-rejected condoms to construct dresses, suits, and other elaborate sculptural pieces. Equal parts advocacy work and madcap Project Runway challenge, Bertini’s collection aims not to foment a revolution in ready-to-wear fashion but to destigmatize condoms and promote the message that these life-saving devices should be as basic and necessary as a simple pair of jeans. And if all this creative do-goodery wasn’t enough, she’s also protecting the environment by reusing pounds of synthetic material that would otherwise end up in landfills or in the air as greenhouse gas. Apparently, you can purchase a unique condom frock of your own from her website. Duct tape prom dresses, you've got some serious competition.

Photograph of dress by Adriana Bertini on Flickr. © Adriana Bertini. All rights reserved.

Tags: activism, AIDS, art, fashion, health, Project Runway

The closest I’ve ever come to buying a political T-shirt was back in 2000, when I was tempted by the “Sore Loserman” play on the Gore-Lieberman logo. It was a playful rebuke to those who wavered between claiming that George Bush was a stupid chimp and that he was nefariously genius enough to steal an election. I have been thinking a lot about sore losers as I see some of my fellow conservatives stooping to acts that are clearly beneath them in response to the health care law.

Don’t get me wrong, I sympathize. (And, no, I’m not angling for invitations to Beltway dinner parties.) The health care bill is a monstrously expensive piece of legislation that will cost more than what we were told (even by its own math), that was acquired through sleazy backroom deals, that will have a terrible cost for businesses and will create all kinds of havoc with already nightmarish state budgets, and that was ultimately secured by a meaningless executive order. I don’t like it either.

But the way to respond is not to park a coffin in front of Russ Carnahan’s home (I don’t care if that was a peace vigil) or cut propane lines at Tom Perriello's house or throw bricks through Louise Slaughter’s office window. (Kind of makes it hard to complain about someone shooting at Eric Cantor’s office or threatening Jean Schmidt, no?)

You know what happens when you do that? Instead of covering the angle that the health care plan did not, as promised, provide that children with pre-existing conditions could get coverage on Day 1 or reporting that the IRS gets $10 billion to hire 16,500 agents to make sure you’re buying insurance or reporting that Nancy Pelosi has an 11 percent favorable rating, the networks are covering the crazy health care haters who are threatening violence.

It’s not just distracting. It’s also empowering to your opponents. As Anne Applebaum pointed out in Slate, “nasty parties don’t win elections.” The Republicans, if they can get their act together, have a tremendous opportunity in the fall. There are some energetic politicians with great ideas going after some of the more entrenched pols in Congress. (Daniel Gross cautions that an improving economy might help the Dems instead of the GOP, but his caveat that lingering high unemployment and a bad housing market might hinder perception of the recovery is an important one, I think.) If the health care law is as bad as conservatives believe it is, it will get sorted out in courts (at least 15 states are already pursuing legal action). In the meantime, remember that people do not like this Congress or this legislation. Let those facts speak for themselves and quit drowning them out.

Photograph of Republican Whip Eric Cantor by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images News.

Tags: health care protests, health care reform, Russ Carnahan, threats of violence

—A women’s music-magazine publisher calls "feminism" outdated, but is she the one who’s out of touch? [Salon]

—In the world of important news, Sandra Bullock trumps health care. [Washington Post]

—The abortion wars continue: Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott employs legal tactics to harass Planned Parenthood. [Courthouse News Service]

—New York Governor David Paterson allegedly helped draft a statement he hoped would be endorsed by the woman accusing his aide of sexual assault. [New York Times]

—Researchers find that women are greater hypochondriacs than men. [Telegraph]

—While former White House social secretary Desiree Rogers lost her job, the infamous gate-crashing Salahis earned a spot on the new Real Housewives series. [The Daily Beast]

—Industry insiders report that obese Oscar nominee Gabourey Sidibe is a “joke in the fashion community” and has no chance of appearing on the cover of Vogue. [NY Daily News]

Photograph of Michaele and Tareq Salahi by Scott Barbour/Getty Images Entertainment.

Tags: david paterson, Desiree Rogers, fashion, feminism, gabourey sidibe, health, hollywood, obesity, Salahis, sandra bullock, white house crashers

—Embattled New York governor David Paterson may face prosecution for accepting five free World Series tickets. [New York Times]

—Sarah Palin teams up with reality show producer Mark Burnett to pitch a television docu-drama about Alaska. The gap between reality stars and politicians has officially closed. [Hollywood Insider]

—Gay couples in Washington, D.C., rejoice as the district begins licensing same-sex marriages. [Washington Post]

—After a year as FLOTUS, Michelle Obama believes that she is no longer a caricature. [Politico]

—Judith Warner’s new book about the myth of overmedicated children continues to generate conversation. [Daily Beast]

—Should the Oscar for best actor be gender-neutral? [New York Times]

Tags: david paterson, gay marriage, health, judith warner, Michelle Obama, parenting, politics, Reality Television, Sarah Palin