FOOD-INTAKE AND THE MENSTRUAL-CYCLE - A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS, WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR APPETITE RESEARCH

The biological regulation of appetite is currently an important topic in nutrition, since hyperphagia has been implicated as the prime cause of obesity. Cyclical fluctuations in food intake occur in women acros s the menstrual cycle, with a periovulatory nadir and a peak in the lu teal phase. These alterations in food intake, in response to ovarian s teroid hormone changes may be more than 2.5 MJ/day, with the mean repo rted changes shown in 19 separate studies of 1.0 MJ/day. Hormonal indu ced fluctuations in food intake could, therefore, contribute to energy imbalance and consequent weight gain. Further, in nutrition studies i nvolving women subjects where the menstrual cycle phase is not control led, hormonally induced changes in food selection and intake may mask the often considerably smaller changes in response to experimental var iables in appetite research.