Menstrual cycles: fatness as a determinant of minimum weight for height necessary for their maintenance or onset
Abstract
Weight loss causes loss of menstrual function (amenorrhea) and weight gain restores menstrual cycles. A minimal weight for height necessary for the onset of or the restoration of menstrual cycles in cases of primary or secondary amenorrhea due to undernutrition is indicated by an index of fatness of normal girls at menarche and at age 18 years, respectively. Amenorrheic patients of ages 16 years and over resume menstrual cycles after weight gain at a heavier weight for a particular height than is found at menarche. Girls become relatively and absolutely fatter from menarche to age 18 years. The data suggest that a minimum level of stored, easily mobilized energy is necessary for ovulation and menstrual cycles in the human female.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Animal and human studies in the 1960s and 1970s showed that the proper function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis is gated by metabolic and nutritional factors.
“Animal and human studies in the 1960s and 1970s showed that the proper function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis is gated by metabolic and nutritional factors.91,92”
From Pubertal development and regulation (2016) · cites this paper as [92]
Cites
The Biology of Human Starvation: Volume I
KEYS, A., BROŽEK, J., HENSCHEL, A., MICKELSEN, O., & TAYLOR, H. L. (1950) · doi:10.5749/j.ctv9b2tqv · Cited by 2,039 · see citing works
Height and weight at menarche and a hypothesis of critical body weights and adolescent events
Frisch, R. E., & Revelle, R. (1970) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.169.3943.397 · Cited by 721 · see citing works
Self-citationBody weight and food intake as initiating factors for puberty in the rat
Kennedy, G. C., & Mitra, J. (1963) · The Journal of Physiology · doi:10.1113/jphysiol.1963.sp007112 · Cited by 443 · see citing works
Height and weight at menarche and a hypothesis of menarche
Frisch, R. E., & Revelle, R. R. (1971) · Archives of Disease in Childhood · doi:10.1136/adc.46.249.695 · Cited by 437 · see citing works
Self-citationClinical and metabolic features of anorexia nervosa
Warren, M. P., & Wiele, R. L. V. (1973) · American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology · doi:10.1016/0002-9378(73)90053-7 · Cited by 302 · see citing works
Konotey-Ahulu, F. I. (1967) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(67)92187-3 · Cited by 187 · see citing works
Frisch, R. E., Revelle, R. R., & Cook, S. (1973) · PubMed · Cited by 183 · see citing works
Self-citationFrisch, R. E. (1972) · PEDIATRICS · doi:10.1542/peds.50.3.445 · Cited by 169 · see citing works
Self-citationAnorexia Nervosa �Feeding Disorder�, �Nervous Malnutrition� or �Weight Phobia�?
Crisp, A. H. (2015) · World review of nutrition and dietetics · doi:10.1159/000387594 · Cited by 132 · see citing works
Height, Weight and Age at Menarche and the "Critical Weight" Hypothesis
Johnston, F. E., Malina, R. M., Galbraith, M. A., et al. (1971) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.174.4014.1148 · Cited by 126 · see citing works
The hypothalamus in pituitary-thyroid regulation.
Reichlin, S., Martin, J. B., Mitnick, M. A., Boshans, R. L., GRIMM, Y., Bollinger, J., Gordon, J., & Malacara, J. M. (1972) · PubMed · Cited by 125 · see citing works
Crisp, A. H., & Stonehill, E. (1971) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.3.5767.149 · Cited by 118 · see citing works
Further observations on total body water. I. Normal values throughout the life span.
Edelman, I. S., Haley, H. B., Schloerb, P. R., et al. (1952) · PubMed · Cited by 96 · see citing works
Endocrine Disturbances in Chronic Human Malnutrition
Zubirán, S., & Gomez-Mont, F. (1953) · Vitamins and hormones · doi:10.1016/s0083-6729(08)61096-1 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
Vitamins and Hormones. Advances in Research and Applications.
Li, C. H. (1956) · Journal of the American Chemical Society · doi:10.1021/ja01598a092 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Lundberg, P. O., Wålinder, J., Werner, I., et al. (1972) · European Journal of Clinical Investigation · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2362.1972.tb00583.x · Cited by 72 · see citing works
Disturbances in the regulation of body temperature in anorexia nervosa
Wakeling, A., & RUSSELL, G. F. M. (1970) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291700039994 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
On the Relative Sterility of the Adolescent Organism
Hartman, C. G. (1931) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.74.1913.226 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Frisch, R. E., & Revelle, R. R. (1969) · PubMed · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Self-citationMeneely, G. R., Heyssel, R. M., Ball, C. O. T., Weiland, R. L., Lorimer, A. R., Constantinides, C. A., & Meneely, E. U. (1963) · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1963.tb17092.x · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Growth of the lean body mass in man.
Forbes, G. B. (1972) · PubMed · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Larger body size and earlier menarche: The end may be in sight
Damon, A. (1974) · Social Biology · doi:10.1080/19485565.1974.9988085 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
DIETING, ANOREXIA NERVOSA AND AMENORRHOEA AFTER ORAL CONTRACEPTIVE TREATMENT
Fries, H., & Nillius, S. J. (1973) · Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica · doi:10.1111/j.1600-0447.1973.tb04456.x · Cited by 25 · see citing works
L actation and P regnancy : A H ypothesis 1
González, N. L. (1964) · American Anthropologist · doi:10.1525/aa.1964.66.4.02a00110 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Height, Weight and Age at Menarche and the "Critical Weight" Hypothesis
Johnston, F. E., Malina, R. M., & Galbraith, M. A. (1971) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.174.4014.1148.a · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Management of sexual deviation.
Brandon, S. (1975) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.3.5976.149 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Health Consequences of Obesity in Youth: Childhood Predictors of Adult Disease
Dietz, W. H. (1998) · Pediatrics · doi:10.1542/peds.101.s2.518 · Cited by 2,700 · see citing works
Tropical Deforestation and Habitat Fragmentation in the Amazon: Satellite Data from 1978 to 1988
Skole, D., & Tucker, C. (1993) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.260.5116.1905 · Cited by 1,590 · see citing works
Adaptive significance of female physical attractiveness: role of waist-to-hip ratio
Singh, D. (1993) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.65.2.293 · Cited by 1,334 · see citing works
Recombinant human leptin in women with hypothalamic amenorrhea
Welt, C. K., Chan, J. L., Bullen, J., Murphy, R., Smith, P., DePaoli, A. M., Karalis, A., & Mantzoros, C. S. (2004) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmoa040388 · Cited by 908 · see citing works
Early onset of reproductive function in normal female mice treated with leptin
Chehab, F. F., Mounzih, K., Lu, R., & Lim, M. E. (1997) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.275.5296.88 · Cited by 822 · see citing works
Metabolic fuels and reproduction in female mammals
Wade, G. N., & Schneider, J. E. (1992) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/s0149-7634(05)80183-6 · Cited by 686 · see citing works
Pubertal development and regulation
Abreu, A. P., & Kaiser, U. B. (2016) · The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology · doi:10.1016/s2213-8587(15)00418-0 · Cited by 611 · see citing works
Leptin in Human Physiology and Pathophysiology
Mantzoros, C. S., Magkos, F., Brinkoetter, M., Sienkiewicz, E., Dardeno, T. A., Kim, S.-Y., Hamnvik, O.-P. R., & Koniaris, A. (2011) · American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism · doi:10.1152/ajpendo.00315.2011 · Cited by 593 · see citing works
Wasser, S. K., & Barash, D. P. (1983) · The Quarterly Review of Biology · doi:10.1086/413545 · Cited by 548 · see citing works
The effects of intense exercise on the female reproductive system
Warren, M., & Perlroth, N. (2001) · Journal of Endocrinology · doi:10.1677/joe.0.1700003 · Cited by 446 · see citing works
Evidence for a secular trend in age of menarche
Wyshak, G., & Frisch, R. E. (1982) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejm198204293061707 · Cited by 448 · see citing works
Self-citationChan, J. L., & Mantzoros, C. S. (2005) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(05)66830-4 · Cited by 382 · see citing works
Characterization of Kiss1 neurons using transgenic mouse models
Cravo, R. M., Margatho, L. O., Osborne-Lawrence, S., Donato, J., Atkin, S., Bookout, A. L., Rovinsky, S., Frazão, R., Lee, C. E., Gautron, L., et al. (2011) · Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2010.11.022 · Cited by 353 · see citing works
Licinio, J., Negrão, A. B., Mantzoros, C., Kaklamani, V., Wong, M.-L., Bongiorno, P. B., Mulla, A., Cearnal, L., Veldhuis, J. D., Flier, J. S., et al. (1998) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.95.5.2541 · Cited by 287 · see citing works
Leptin at 14 y of age: an ongoing story
Friedman, J. M. (2009) · The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.3945/ajcn.2008.26788b · Cited by 272 · see citing works
A genetic basis for functional hypothalamic amenorrhea
Caronia, L. M., Martin, C., Welt, C. K., Sykiotis, G. P., Quinton, R., Thambundit, A., Avbelj, M., Dhruvakumar, S., Plummer, L., Hughes, V. A., et al. (2011) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmoa0911064 · Cited by 256 · see citing works
Energetics and the Evolution of the Genus<i>HOMO</i>
Aiello, L. C., & Wells, J. C. K. (2002) · Annual Review of Anthropology · doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.31.040402.085403 · Cited by 259 · see citing works
The neuroendocrine timing of puberty
Ebling, F. J. P. (2005) · Reproduction · doi:10.1530/rep.1.00367 · Cited by 250 · see citing works
Adiposity indices and dementia
Gustafson, D. (2006) · The Lancet Neurology · doi:10.1016/s1474-4422(06)70526-9 · Cited by 237 · see citing works
Garcia, J., Jones, G. S., & Wentz, A. C. (1977) · Fertility and Sterility · doi:10.1016/s0015-0282(16)42670-1 · Cited by 233 · see citing works
Burcelin, R., Thorens, B., Glauser, M., Gaillard, R. C., & Pralong, F. P. (2003) · Endocrinology · doi:10.1210/en.2003-0457 · Cited by 173 · see citing works
Leptin Treatment Rescues the Sterility of Genetically Obese ob/ob Males*
Mounzih, K., Lu, R., & Chehab, F. F. (1997) · Endocrinology · doi:10.1210/en.138.3.1190 · Cited by 482 · see citing works
Legro, R. S., Lin, H. M., Demers, L. M., & Lloyd, T. (2000) · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · doi:10.1210/jcem.85.3.6423 · Cited by 154 · see citing works
Lebrun, C. M. (1993) · Sports Medicine · doi:10.2165/00007256-199316060-00005 · Cited by 135 · see citing works
High serum cortisol levels in exercise-associated amenorrhea
DING, J.-H., SHECKTER, C. B., DRINKWATER, B. L., SOULES, M. R., & BREMNER, W. J. (1988) · Annals of Internal Medicine · doi:10.7326/0003-4819-108-4-530 · Cited by 131 · see citing works
Effect of Leptin Replacement on Pituitary Hormone Regulation in Patients with Severe Lipodystrophy
Oral, E. A., Ruiz, E., Andewelt, A., Sebring, N., Wagner, A. J., Depaoli, A. M., & Gorden, P. (2002) · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · doi:10.1210/jcem.87.7.8591 · Cited by 129 · see citing works
Insulin and NPY pathways and the control of GnRH function and puberty onset
Pralong, F. P. (2010) · Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.mce.2010.01.037 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
Puberty as a life history transition
Ellison, P. T., Reiches, M. W., Shattuck-Faegre, H., Breakey, A., Konecna, M., Urlacher, S., & Wobber, V. (2012) · Annals of Human Biology · doi:10.3109/03014460.2012.693199 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Physical Growth and Development During Puberty
Barnes, H. V. (1975) · Medical Clinics of North America · doi:10.1016/s0025-7125(16)31931-9 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Serum leptin levels and anthropometric correlates in Ache Amerindians of eastern Paraguay.
Bribiescas, R. G. (2001) · American Journal of Physical Anthropology · doi:10.1002/ajpa.1085 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Parent and offspring strategies in the transition at adolescence
Surbey, M. K. (1998) · Human Nature · doi:10.1007/s12110-998-1012-3 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
A practice guideline for treatment of eating disorders in children and adolescents
Ebeling, H., Tapanainen, P., Joutsenoja, A., Koskinen, M., Morin‐Papunen, L., Järvi, L., Hassinen, R., Keski‐Rahkonen, A., Rissanen, A., & Wahlbeck, K. (2003) · Annals of Medicine · doi:10.1080/07853890310000727 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Metabolic Regulation of Kisspeptin
Castellano, J. M., & Tena-Sempere, M. (2013) · Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology · doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-6199-9_17 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Comorbidity of mental and physical disorders
(2014) · Key Issues in Mental Health · doi:10.1159/isbn.978-3-318-02604-7 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Zhuo, Y., Zhou, D., Che, L., Fang, Z., Lin, Y., & Wu, D. (2014) · Nutrition · doi:10.1016/j.nut.2013.12.019 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Weight gain in Turner syndrome: association to puberty induction?—longitudinal analysis of KIGS data
Reinehr, T., Lindberg, A., Toschke, C., Cara, J., Chrysis, D., & Camacho‐Hübner, C. (2016) · Clinical Endocrinology · doi:10.1111/cen.13044 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
- Authors
- Frisch, R. E., & McArthur, J. W.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Massachusetts General Hospital (US)
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 1974-09-13
- Volume
- 185
- Issue
- 4155
- Pages
- 949-951
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2049850715
- Cited by
- 1,412
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 27 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 31 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 32 · 2013: 27 · 2012: 31
- FWCI
- 15.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Hypothalamic control of reproductive hormones
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Ovarian function and disorders
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Reproductive Biology and Fertility
- Keywords
- menstrual cycle, amenorrhea, weight-for-height, fat mass, malnutrition, menarche, weight gain, weight loss, ovulation, energy reserves
- MeSH terms
- Adipose Tissue, Adolescent, Adult, Age Factors, Amenorrhea, Anorexia Nervosa, Body Water, Body Weight, Europe, Female, Humans, Menarche, Menstruation, United States
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review