Abstract
Ovulation is readily suppressed by food shortage. It can also be suppressed by either excessive exercise or cold exposure if these metabolic drains are not fully compensated by an increase in food consumption. The evolutionary basis for these associated effects relates to the female’s need to reproduce within the context of existing foraging conditions (Bronson 1988a). Most humans no longer need to forage extensively, but the now well-publicized syndrome of athlete’s amenorrhea suggests that we still possess these evolutionarily-ancient responses (see Short 1976; Loucks and Horvath 1985).
This research was supported by NIH grant HD21996
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Bronson, F.H., Manning, J. (1989). Food Consumption, Prolonged Exercise, and LH Secretion in the Peripubertal Female Rat. In: Pirke, K.M., Wuttke, W., Schweiger, U. (eds) The Menstrual Cycle and Its Disorders. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74631-4_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74631-4_6
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