Women with amenorrhea consume only half the amount of dietary fat compared to women with regular menstrual cycles

This study was published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 1998 Jan;83(1):25-32

 

Study title and authors:

Nutritional and endocrine-metabolic aberrations in women with functional hypothalamic amenorrhea.

Laughlin GA, Dominguez CE, Yen SS.

Department of Reproductive Medicine, University of California-San Diego School of Medicine, La Jolla 92093-0633, USA.

 

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9435412

This study assessed the association of dietary intake with functional hypothalamic amenorrhea. (functional hypothalamic amenorrhea is the absence of menstrual cycles for more than six months). The study included eight women with functional hypothalamic amenorrhea and eight age- and body mass index-matched regular cycling women.

Regarding diet, the study found:
(a) The amenorrheic women consumed 46.3% less fat than the regular cycling women.
(b) The amenorrheic women consumed 37.1% more carbohydrate than the regular cycling women.
(c) The amenorrheic women consumed 83.3% more fibre than the regular cycling women.

The results of the study show that women with functional hypothalamic amenorrhea consume only half the amount of dietary fat compared to women with regular menstrual cycles.