BODY FAT, PUBERTY AND FERTILITY

1. The high percentage of fat, about 26–28% in the mature human female, may influence reproductive ability directly through two mechanisms: (a) fat converts androgens to oestrogens; (b) relative fatness influences the direction of metabolism of oestrogen to the most potent or least potent forms. The relative degree of fatness thus is directly related to both the quantity of circulating oestrogen and the biological effectiveness of the oestrogen. This is a neat mechanism for relating rates of growth, nutrition and energy outputs to the energy requirements for reproduction. Fat is the most labile body tissue; it therefore reflects environmental changes more rapidly than other tissues of the body.

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