A team of scientists in Vietnam studied this relationship in approximately 300 men, assessing their height, waist, hip, and hand circumference, as well as the size of their penises when flaccid, flaccid, and erect. The team also asked the participants to estimate their body mass index (BMI) at age 10, before the onset of puberty.
The scientists found that men who were obese as children had shorter penises and less developed penis size in adulthood, while no effect of BMI at adulthood on penis size was observed. They explained that the reason may be related to a decrease in the male hormone testosterone during puberty (as an effect of childhood obesity), a hormone important for penis growth.
The study indicates that "childhood obesity is linked to penis growth, while adulthood obesity affects only its appearance, not its actual size."
"Early interventions are needed to mitigate the potential long-term effects of childhood obesity on penile development," the research team added.
Scientists found that the average penis length when flaccid was 8.9 cm, and when erect, 14.4 cm, with slight differences in diameter between obese men and men of a healthy weight. Previous research has also indicated that obesity in adulthood can cause penis shrinkage, and losing about 10 kg increases penis length by about one centimeter, due to the effect of fat on the conversion of testosterone to estrogen (a female sex hormone).
The study was published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.
