(Women in Culture and Society.) By Rose E. Frisch. 194 pp., illustrated. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2002. $20. ISBN 0-226-26545-5.
The idea that excessive exercise or undernutrition can postponepuberty, reduce fertility, or prevent menstruation is now soembedded in the body of medical knowledge that it is hard tobelieve that Frisch's pioneering studies, beginning in the late1960s, of the reproductive consequences of an altered mass ofdepot fat were largely ignored or treated with skepticism. Herhypothesis — that a critical mass of body fat is the crucialtrigger of gonadotropin secretion, both in developing girlsand in mature women during reproductive life — was initiallybased on detailed analysis of worldwide demographic data andwas later . . . [Full Text of this Article]
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