Body Composition Over the Menstrual and Oral Contraceptive Cycle in Trained Females

in International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance

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Beatriz Rael
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Nuria Romero-Parra
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Víctor M. Alfaro-Magallanes
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Laura Barba-Moreno
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Rocío Cupeiro
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Xanne Janse de Jonge
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Ana B. Peinado
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on Behalf of the IronFEMME Study Group
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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2020-0038
Keywords:
estrogen; progesterone; fat mass; fat-free mass; total body water
First Published Online:
01 Oct 2020
In Print:
Volume 16: Issue 3
Page Range:
375–381
Restricted access

Purpose: The influence of female sex hormones on body fluid regulation and metabolism homeostasis has been widely studied. However, it remains unclear whether hormone fluctuations throughout the menstrual cycle (MC) and with oral contraceptive (OC) use affect body composition (BC). Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate BC over the MC and OC cycle in well-trained females. Methods: A total of 52 eumenorrheic and 33 monophasic OC-taking well-trained females participated in this study. Several BC variables were measured through bioelectrical impedance analysis 3 times in the eumenorrheic group (early follicular phase, late follicular phase, and midluteal phase) and on 2 occasions in the OC group (withdrawal phase and active pill phase). Results: Mixed linear model tests reported no significant differences in the BC variables (body weight, body mass index, basal metabolism, fat mass, fat-free mass, and total body water) between the MC phases or between the OC phases (P > .05 for all comparisons). Trivial and small effect sizes were found for all BC variables when comparing the MC phases in eumenorrheic females, as well as for the OC cycle phases. Conclusions: According to the results, sex hormone fluctuations throughout the menstrual and OC cycle do not influence BC variables measured by bioelectrical impedance in well-trained females. Therefore, it seems that bioimpedance analysis can be conducted at any moment of the cycle, both for eumenorrheic women and women using OC.

Rael, Romero-Parra, Alfaro-Magallanes, Barba-Moreno, Cupeiro, and Peinado are with the LFE Research Group, Dept of Health and Human Performance, Faculty of Physical Activity and Sport Science (INEF), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain. Janse de Jonge is with the School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia.

Romero-Parra (n.romero@upm.es) is corresponding author.
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