Re: Age of Menarche By the Kilo!
From: R.Daniel Braun, MD FACOG (rbraun@netdirect.net)
Mon Nov 3 18:31:22 1997
Leon Speroff taught me that in 1976, when he was our visiting professor
in Chattanooga. I thought everybody knew it.
Dan
At Mon, 3 Nov 1997, Jeffrey W. Clemens wrote:
>
>Listers-
>
>Give the man a prize! My ref. at hand (Essential Reproduction, Johnson and
>Everitt, 4th ed.) give 47 kg as the magic number. For age at menarche,
>this was approx. at age 16 in a Belgian study (1835), age 14 in a American
>study (1895), and age 13 in 1959 (American or English). Menarche is a
>relatively late pubertal event. The adolescent growth spurt initiates at
>approximately 30 kg. Other supporting evidence is the amenorrhea in
>anorexics that drop below 47 kg and resumption above 47 kg (granted that
>anorexia nervosa may be a complicated, multi-factorial disease).
>
> The adipocyte product leptin may be the link. Defects in leptin
>and leptin receptor have been associated with infertility in rodents.
>Treatment with recombinant leptin can restore estrous cyclicity to animals
>with mutated leptin protein. Leptin, via its receptor, may regulate
>neuropeptide Y in the hypothalamus. NPY postulated to regulate GnRH.
>(sorry-no refs. handy at the moment. However, lots of info. re: leptin
>available on-line at the National Library of Medicine at the Online
>Mendelian Inheritance in Man database. I think that is at
>http://www.nlm.ncbi.gov.
>
>>The age of menarche has been lowered due to better nutrition. i.e. the
>>young lady reaches the magic weight of 100# at an earlier age and this
>>sets of the cascade at an earlier age.
>>
>>--
>>R. Daniel Braun, MD
>
>--
>==================================================================
>Jeffrey W. Clemens, Ph.D.
>Assistant Professor
>Dept. of Biological Sciences
>Duquesne University
>Pittsburgh, PA 15282
>412-396-4597
>Fax 412-396-5907
>==================================================================
>
--
R.Daniel Braun, MD
"Heisenberg might have slept here"
Unknown or Indecisve
