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Energy balance and reproductive function

Regulation of reproductive function in athletic women: an investigation of the roles of energy availability and body composition

C L Zanker

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr Zanker
Carnegie Research Institute, Carnegie Faculty of Sport and Education, Leeds Metropolitan University, Headingley Campus, Leeds LS6 3QS, UK; c.zanker@leedsmet.ac.uk

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Exercise associated reproductive dysfunction in women is attributable to deficits of readily available energy

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Keywords: exercise; energy deprivation; body fat; amenorrhoea; infertility

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Reproductive dysfunction is common in female athletes and is indicated symptomatically by delayed menarche (primary amenorrhoea) in girls, and by a cessation of menses (secondary amenorrhoea) or sporadic menses (oligomenorrhoea) in adolescents and young women. These menstrual disturbances reflect different degrees of ovarian suppression and are accompanied by inadequate follicular development and impaired fertility. Exercise associated ovarian suppression coincides with a multitude of metabolic and physiological disturbances that can impact deleteriously on health. Of particular prominence is a disruption of bone metabolism, which reduces bone acquisition during adolescence and elicits premature bone loss in adulthood.¹

The mechanism of exercise associated ovarian suppression is neuroendocrine dysfunction.² The accompanying menstrual disturbance is termed functional hypothalamic amenorrhoea (FHA), which denotes its origin and attributes its aetiology to a reversible adaptation to physiological or emotional stress. In FHA, there is disruption of the pulsatile release of gonadotropin releasing hormone . . . [Full text of this article]

M P Warren

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA; mpw1@columbia.edu

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