The Female Triad

A few weeks ago Kelly Holmes had a page in 'Athletics Weekly' about the female triad. We have known about this for some time and the youngest athlete that I have known of in Scotland with this kind of problem was in the Under 17 age group. As she says , it has been known about, written about and discussed in detail in America for some time. She organised a workshop recently on the topic at £100 a place and my information is that it was oversubscribed. So what are we talking about?

We are talking about a combination of eating disorder, amenorrhea and osteoporosis (problems with bone density). I quote Kelly directly, "Too many girls are trying to lose too much weight. They think it will make them look better, feel better and run faster times. But they may run one good time and then get injured and never come back. With teenage girls there are lots of social pressures and girls are always competitive about who is 'looking best'. If we are not careful we can lose sight of looking after their overall health and wellbeing. Losing too much weight leads to massive problems. A poor diet will lead to lack of calcium in the bones and when coupled with hard training, amenorrhea will occur - thus forming a potentially career threatening inter related trio of problems." (She also says that when she won her Olympic medals she ate the most she has ever eaten - but it was natural real foods as opposed to junk food.)

If any women are underweight or have any of the symptoms she suggests (1) decrease training load by 10-20%; (2) Increase calcium intake; (3) Boost body weight by 2-3% and (4) Eat a regular and varied diet throughout the day with good meals both before and after training.

This is basically a 'heads up' article on something that will appear more and more in sports periodicals, at training days and maybe even on television. If you want more information there is a lot on the internet apart from consulting the usual health sources.