Eating and Weight Disorders in the Female Athlete

1991 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 104-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack H. Wilmore
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Disordered Eating ◽  
Bone Mineral ◽  
Female Athlete ◽  
Female Athletes ◽  
Special Populations ◽  
Menstrual Dysfunction ◽  
Secondary Amenorrhea ◽  
Clinical Criteria ◽  
Increased Risk

This paper presents an overview of eating disorders, including definitions, clinical criteria for appropriate diagnosis, and a discussion of the potential for increased risk for eating disorders in special populations of female athletes. This is followed by a discussion of the prevalence of eating disorders in normal and athletic populations. From this discussion, it seems clear that female athletes in endurance or appearance sports are at an increased risk for disordered eating. Finally, the paper focuses on related disorders—a triad associating eating disorders, menstrual dysfunction, and bone mineral disorders. It is clear that secondary amenorrhea is associated with malnutrition and disordered eating. Further, bone mineral disorders are related to menstrual dysfunction. Disordered eating may represent the initiating factor of this triad.

The Female Athlete Triad: Is the Triad a Problem Among Division I Female Athletes?

2007 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 358-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justine J. Reel ◽  
Sonya SooHoo ◽  
Holly Doetsch ◽  
Jennifer E. Carter ◽  
Trent A. Petrie
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Disordered Eating ◽  
Female Athlete ◽  
Female Athletes ◽  
Division I ◽  
Female Athlete Triad ◽  
Muscle Injuries ◽  
Menstrual Dysfunction ◽  
Eating Disordered ◽  
Menstrual History

The purpose of the study was to determine prevalence rates of the female athlete triad (Triad), differences by sport category (aesthetic, endurance, and team/anaerobic), and the relationship between each of the components of the Triad. Female athletes (N= 451) from three Division I universities with an average age of 20 years completed the Menstrual History Questionnaire, Injury Assessment Questionnaire, and the Questionnaire for Eating Disorder Diagnoses (Q-EDD; Mintz, O’Halloran, Mulholland, & Schneider, 1997). Almost 7% of female athletes reported clinical eating disorders, and 19.2% reported subclinical disordered eating. Disordered eating was prevalent in all three sport categories with no significant differences between groups. Muscle injuries were more prevalent in team/anaerobic sports (77.4%) than the aesthetic (68.1%) and endurance groups (58.1%). Furthermore, those athletes with menstrual dysfunction more frequently reported clinical eating disorders (1.4%) and sustained more skeletal injuries (51%) during their athletic career than athletes with regular menstrual function. Clinical implications and further research directions are addressed.

scholarly journals Disordered Eating and Eating Disorders in Aquatic Sports

2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 450-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Melin ◽  
Monica Klungland Torstveit ◽  
Louise Burke ◽  
Saul Marks ◽  
Jorunn Sundgot-Borgen
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Disordered Eating ◽  
Eating Behavior ◽  
Female Athletes ◽  
Reproductive Function ◽  
Functional Impairments ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Energy Deficiency ◽  
Impaired Performance ◽  
Increased Risk

Disordered eating behavior (DE) and eating disorders (EDs) are of great concern because of their associations with physical and mental health risks and, in the case of athletes, impaired performance. The syndrome originally known as the Female Athlete Triad, which focused on the interaction of energy availability, reproductive function, and bone health in female athletes, has recently been expanded to recognize that Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) has a broader range of negative effects on body systems with functional impairments in both male and female athletes. Athletes in leanness-demanding sports have an increased risk for RED-S and for developing EDs/DE. Special risk factors in aquatic sports related to weight and body composition management include the wearing of skimpy and tight-fitting bathing suits, and in the case of diving and synchronized swimming, the involvement of subjective judgments of performance. The reported prevalence of DE and EDs in athletic populations, including athletes from aquatic sports, ranges from 18 to 45% in female athletes and from 0 to 28% in male athletes. To prevent EDs, aquatic athletes should practice healthy eating behavior at all periods of development pathway, and coaches and members of the athletes’ health care team should be able to recognize early symptoms indicating risk for energy deficiency, DE, and EDs. Coaches and leaders must accept that DE/EDs can be a problem in aquatic disciplines and that openness regarding this challenge is important.

Stress Fractures And The Reproductive System In The Female Athlete

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irfan M Asif ◽  
Kimberly Harmon ◽  
Mallory Shasteen
Keyword(s):  
Femoral Neck ◽  
Disordered Eating ◽  
Reproductive System ◽  
Female Athlete ◽  
Female Athletes ◽  
Stress Fractures ◽  
Female Athlete Triad ◽  
Low Back ◽  
Mineral Density ◽  
Pubic Ramus

Stress fractures are more common in the female athlete. Stress fractures of the pubic ramus and femoral neck are particularly more common in females than in males. Rib stress fractures are an important injury to consider in the female rower, whereas spondylolysis is a common cause of low back pain in female athletes who hyperextend their spines. The higher incidence of stress fractures in females is mainly due to the higher prevalence of disordered eating and subsequent energy imbalance, which leads to detrimental effects on bone. This review discusses stress fractures and unique issues related to exercise and the female reproductive system. This review contains 6 figures, 5 tables and 49 references Key words: amenorrhea, bone mineral density, disordered eating, female athlete triad, femoral neck, pregnancy, pubic ramus, rib, spondylolysis, stress fracture

Cognitive Mapping: Its Use as an Assessment Tool for Disordered Eating

1999 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-72
Author(s):  
Kristin L. Wiginton ◽  
Deborah Rhea
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Disordered Eating ◽  
Eating Behaviors ◽  
Cognitive Mapping ◽  
Female Athletes ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Disordered Eating Behaviors ◽  
Preventive Practices ◽  
The Impact

The incidence of eating disorders among female athletes continues to increase, presenting intervention challenges to athletic trainers. Additionally, a number of female athletes have disordered eating behaviors that do not yet constitute an eating disorder diagnosis, but have similar characteristics to those athletes diagonised with eating disorders. However, each athlete exhibits individual mental representations of disordered eating and the impact of those representations on important aspects of her life. The athletic trainer has the potential to offer comprehensive preventive education when all aspects of the athlete’s own understanding of disordered eating are assessed. Cognitive mapping is an assessment technique that can be used in addition to other preventive practices and can be useful in determining an athlete’s current mental representations of disordered eating.

Are female athletes at increased risk for disordered eating and its complications?

Appetite ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Morgado de Oliveira Coelho ◽  
Eliane de Abreu Soares ◽  
Beatriz Gonçalves Ribeiro
Keyword(s):  
Disordered Eating ◽  
Female Athletes ◽  
Increased Risk

Screening for Disordered Eating and Eating Disorders in Female Athletes

2013 ◽  
pp. 191-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer J. Mitchell ◽  
Jacalyn J. Robert-McComb
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Disordered Eating ◽  
Female Athletes

scholarly journals Bone Mineral Changes and Cardiovascular Effects among Female Athletes with Chronic Menstrual Dysfunction

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ghazaleh Soleimany ◽  
Haleh Dadgostar ◽  
Sara Lotfian ◽  
Mazyar Moradi-Lakeh ◽  
Elham Dadgostar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bone Mineral ◽  
Female Athletes ◽  
Cardiovascular Effects ◽  
Menstrual Dysfunction ◽  
Mineral Changes

Stress Fractures And The Reproductive System In The Female Athlete

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irfan M Asif ◽  
Kimberly Harmon ◽  
Mallory Shasteen
Keyword(s):  
Femoral Neck ◽  
Disordered Eating ◽  
Reproductive System ◽  
Female Athlete ◽  
Female Athletes ◽  
Stress Fractures ◽  
Female Athlete Triad ◽  
Low Back ◽  
Mineral Density ◽  
Pubic Ramus

Stress fractures are more common in the female athlete. Stress fractures of the pubic ramus and femoral neck are particularly more common in females than in males. Rib stress fractures are an important injury to consider in the female rower, whereas spondylolysis is a common cause of low back pain in female athletes who hyperextend their spines. The higher incidence of stress fractures in females is mainly due to the higher prevalence of disordered eating and subsequent energy imbalance, which leads to detrimental effects on bone. This review discusses stress fractures and unique issues related to exercise and the female reproductive system. This review contains 6 figures, 5 tables and 49 references Key words: amenorrhea, bone mineral density, disordered eating, female athlete triad, femoral neck, pregnancy, pubic ramus, rib, spondylolysis, stress fracture

Low Bone Mineral Density in Elite Female Athletes With a History of Secondary Amenorrhea in Their Teens

2018 ◽  
Vol Publish Ahead of Print ◽  
Author(s):  
Sayaka Nose-Ogura ◽  
Osamu Yoshino ◽  
Michiko Dohi ◽  
Mika Kigawa ◽  
Miyuki Harada ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bone Mineral Density ◽  
Bone Mineral ◽  
Female Athletes ◽  
Mineral Density ◽  
Secondary Amenorrhea ◽  
Low Bone Mineral Density ◽  
History Of

Nutritional Aspects of Amenorrhea in the Female Athlete Triad

1996 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan E. Benson ◽  
Kathryn A. Engelbert-Fenton ◽  
Patricia A. Eisenman
Keyword(s):  
Disordered Eating ◽  
Athletic Training ◽  
Eating Behaviors ◽  
Female Athletes ◽  
Menstrual Dysfunction ◽  
Disordered Eating Behaviors ◽  
Bone Injury ◽  
High Incidence ◽  
Fat Stores ◽  
Menstrual Patterns

Female athletes experience a high incidence of menstrual abnormalities. This has critical health consequences because amenorrhea athletes are at greater risk of developing osteopenia and bone injury compared to normally menstruating athletes or nonathletic normally cycling females. Female performers and athletes are also at risk for developing disordered eating behaviors. There appears to be a connection between menstrual dysfunction, athletic training, and disordered eating, but how they relate is not fully understood. In this paper we explore how low calorie intakes, nutritional inadequacies, vegetarianism, low body fat stores, and specific training behaviors may contribute to the abnormal menstrual patterns seen in this population. Recommendations for the detection and prevention of eating and training problems and consequent menstrual abnormalities are included.

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