• Question: How do hormones in the child's body differ from the hormones in the teenage/adult body?

    Asked by Jxsh Trxppett to Laura, Craig on 15 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Laura Wales

      Laura Wales answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      Hi there,

      Loads of hormones regulate what other cells or organs in the body do. Some hormones will have the same function in children as they do in adults. For example, insulin allows the body to use sugar from carbohydrates in the food you eat for energy or to store glucose. It helps keep your blood sugar level from getting too high. This is something that’s needed from childhood right through to adulthood.

      Growth hormone (GH) acts on different parts of the body in children to promote….well….growth. However, you obviously don’t want to keep growing so for adults, it acts in a different way and helps you keep a normal body structure, metabolism, and helps certain functions in the body to stay constant.

      Then we have puberty. Puberty starts when the hypothalamus releases a hormone called gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). GnRH tells the pituitary to release two hormones – Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) and Luteinising Hormone (LH).

      In girls, FSH and LH work on the ovaries to produce oestrogen and progesterone. These cause various body changes and if everything is working correctly, the ovaries release an egg each month.

      In boys, the FSH and LH work on the testicles and they start to produce testosterone and sperm.

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