Energy Availability and Disordered Eating

Why Energy & Proper Nutrition Are Vital Components In Preventing the Triad

  • The female athlete triad, is the observation of the linkage between disordered eating, functional hypothalamic ammenorhea, and osteoperosis in recreational and advanced leveled exercising women (Gibbs et al., 2013).

  • The triad is a syndrome which links low energy availability as causation for many symptoms, which can also corelate with disordered eating.

  • The triad is found to be a detrimental consequence of ingesting inadequate amounts of energy to make up for the energy expenditure during exercise, a condition termed "low energy availability (EA)" (Gibbs et al., 2013).


What is Low Energy Availability? What is Disordered Eating?

  • Low Energy Availability (LEA) occurs when the caloric intake of an athelte is inadequate to meet the energy required and/or expended.

  • Ultimately, LEA represents a state in which the body does not have enough energy to support all physiological functions that provide optimal health.

  • Disordered eating can lead to more extreme health issues and can compromise the metabolic rate, the skeletal system, as well as mental health in addition to many other health elements.

  • Disordered eating constitutes:

    • Restrictive eating

    • Compulsive eating

    • Inflexible eating patterns

    • Irregular eating patterns


Oftentimes the energy output is greater than the energy input which can put female's at imminent risk for falling victim to the triad. For more information about proper eating, check out MyPlate

https://www.myplate.gov

Nutrition In sports

~ Each sport and activity can require different amounts of energy to be consumed in order to maintain a healthy energy balance in the body. Energy expenditure must be accompmanied by adequate energy intake, otherwise energy defecit can occur.

~When disordered eating becomes apparent, not only is the body not being fueled properly, LEA transpires, and can cause serious health concerns like amennorhea.

Proper nutriton and fueling the body is key in avoiding low energy availability (LEA). Ensuring that adequate energy consumption is followed according to energy expenditure helps diminish the risks of the female athlete triad. Osteoperosis, ammenorhea, and disordered eating are all sympotms that correlate with the triad. The body is a machine, and without proper fuel it cannot operate functionally.

References:

Disordered Eating & Dieting. (2022, July 19). NEDC. https://nedc.com.au/eating-disorders/eating-disorders-explained/disordered-eating-and-dieting/

Gibbs, J. C., Williams, N. I., & De Souza, M. J. (2013). Prevalence of individual and combined components of the female athlete triad. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 45(5), 985–996. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0b013e31827e1bdc


Wasserfurth, P., Palmowski, J., Hahn, A., & Krüger, K. (2020). Reasons for and Consequences of Low Energy Availability in Female and Male Athletes: Social Environment, Adaptations, and Prevention. Sports Medicine - Open, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-020-00275-6