NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Women with exercised-induced amenorrhea may be able to reverse the condition by adding more calories to their diet, according to preliminary findings from an animal model.
"Our goal was to understand whether reproductive dysfunction due to high levels of exercise was due to the stress of exercising or to the amount of energy that gets used during exercise," Dr. Judy L. Cameron from the University of Pittsburgh, told Reuters Health. "The findings show that it is energy consumption during exercise that causes reproductive dysfunction," she said.
Dr. Cameron and colleagues trained eight female adult monkeys to exercise on a treadmill. Over 7-to-24 months, the researchers increased the exercise program until the monkeys developed amenorrhea.
The monkeys underwent rigorous exercise training comparable to that used by humans. The animals started by walking and slowly increased activity until they were running at levels similar to whose used by humans in marathon training, Dr. Cameron explained.
During the initial part of the training, food intake remained the same, according to the report in the November issue of The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
While four of the monkeys remained on the standard diet, the other four were given supplemental calories while the exercise program continued. All four monkeys that received extra calories showed increased hormone levels and reestablished ovulatory cycles. Recovery from amenorrhea was directly related to the amount of extra calories the monkeys ingested (p < 0.05), the researchers found.
As amenorrhea developed, there was a 27% decrease in plasma T3 levels which significantly increased (18%; p < 0.05) as amenorrhea was reversed, Dr. Cameron's team notes.
"From a treatment point of view, the implication is fantastic," Dr. Cameron said. One can restore reproductive function that is lost as a result of intense exercise by taking in a few more calories.
J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2001;86:5184-1593.
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