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Body composition at menarche: The Frisch-Revelle hypothesis revisited
Pediatrics
|September 1, 1975
Summary
Menarche is not solely triggered by critical body weight or reduced metabolism. Instead, achieving a specific body composition appears more closely linked to the onset of menstruation, especially when ovaries are functional.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Endocrinology
- Reproductive Biology
- Human Physiology
Background:
- The Frisch and Revelle hypothesis posits that menarche (first menstruation) occurs at a critical body weight, linked to metabolic rate decline and specific body composition.
- Investigating this hypothesis requires examining body composition and menarche timing in diverse groups of girls, including those with various endocrine and growth disorders.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test the Frisch and Revelle hypothesis regarding critical weight, metabolic rate, and body composition in relation to menarche.
- To analyze how different endocrine disorders affect body composition and its correlation with menarche.
Main Methods:
- Collected anthropometric data (height, weight) and body composition (total body water, fat) for girls with conditions like tall stature, precocious puberty, hypothyroidism, gonadal dysgenesis, and obesity.
- Compared these measurements against the proposed critical weight and body composition thresholds for menarche in normal girls.
Main Results:
- Girls with tall stature exceeded critical weight before menarche but aligned with body composition predictions.
- Disorders like idiopathic sex precocity and hypothyroidism altered body composition towards menarcheal levels, irrespective of weight or age.
- Girls with gonadal dysgenesis showed body composition changes paralleling normal pubertal development, and obese girls under 8 had high body fat but no puberty signs.
Conclusions:
- Menarche is not exclusively determined by critical body weight or reduced metabolism; body composition is a more significant factor.
- Estrogen's role in adolescent fat increase is not solely responsible, and pituitary gonadotropins may influence body composition related to menarche, particularly in gonadal dysgenesis.
- The correlation between competent ovaries, characteristic body composition, and menarche holds, with obesity being a notable exception.