Nine–month nutritional intervention improves restoration of menses in young female athletes and ballet dancers

Abstract

Background

We hypothesized that an intervention designed to increase the energy and nutrient intake could serve as an efficacious method to restore normal menstrual functions in athletes and ballet dancers.

Methods

In this study, a 9-month nutritional intervention (NI) was conducted in 21 dancers and 31 athletes with menstrual disorders. Analyses of the body composition were performed, and the levels of LH, FSH, P, E2, TSH, T, PRL, SHBG, leptin, resting metabolic rate (RMR), energy and nutrient intake, total energy expenditure were estimated. The NI was based on an individual diet. The effects of the NI were controlled after 3, 6 and 9 months of use.

Results

The NI resulted in a significant change of the energy and nutrient intake. After 9 months, a significant increase in the LH level among dancers was observed, while in female athletes this effect was seen after 3 months of the NI use. The 9-month NI resulted in the restoration of regular menses in 3 dancers and 7 athletes, respectively. Women with regular cycles had a higher percentage of the fat mass (FM).

Conclusions

A non-pharmacological intervention in female athletes and ballet dancers with menstrual disorders can restore regular menstrual cycles, although restoration of menses may take more than 1 year. An increase in the body fat mass may be one of the most important predictors of restoration of menses.

Keywords:

• Body composition
• Metabolism
• Nutrition

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12970-014-0052-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12970-014-0052-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Acknowledgement

The project was financed by Ministry of Science and Higher Education under a number N N312 239738.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.