Planetary Health Justice: The Right to Health for Humanity and the Planet

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[i4CY8toL-01] Maternal obesity, social factors, environmental hormone and offspring adolescent development

*Aomi Katagiri¹ (1. Specially Appointed Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health, Institute of Science Tokyo (Japan))

Keywords:

Pubertal Development

Children who enter puberty early may have increased risk of reproductive cancers and mental health disorders, from longer exposure periods to sex hormones. Maternal pre-pregnancy obesity is known to associate with offspring’s childhood obesity, which in turn leads to earlier pubertal timing. Social factors, such as poverty, also influence pubertal timing. Furthermore, recent studies have suggested that exposure to environmental hormones during pregnancy may accelerate the onset of offspring puberty. In this study, we focused on heavy metals lead, cadmium, and mercury among endocrine disruptors. We analyzed data from 956 mother-child pairs in the Boston Birth Cohort in the United States, examining the concentrations of these heavy metals (lead, cadmium, and mercury) in the mothers’ blood immediately after birth and the children’s height data up to age 21. The results revealed that when fetal exposure to heavy metals coexists with maternal pre-pregnancy obesity and Black race, the onset of puberty in children is accelerated in additively. Specifically, in boys, the combination of lead exposure and maternal pre-pregnancy obesity resulted in puberty occurring 0.23 (0.10–0.52) years earlier, while in girls, the combination of cadmium exposure and maternal pre-pregnancy obesity resulted in puberty occurring 0.20 (0.04–0.37) years earlier. Exposure to heavy metals is by no means an issue of the past. In Japan, there are still more than 2 million water pipes containing lead, posing a risk of exposure to heavy metals. We must continue to work toward creating an environment where pregnant women and children can live safely.