Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Sex hormones, such as estrogens or progesterone may have, both directly and indirectly, an influence on the appetite changes in. In addition, exogenous sex hormones are commonly used as one method of contraception.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to assess whether the eating style in a group of menstruating women, taking oral hormonal contraceptives, is different in the individual menstrual cycle phases.

Material and methods: 28 menstruating women taking oral hormonal cantraceptives in age 19–25 were included to the study. The way of nutrition (caloric intake, protein, fat, and carbohydrates content) was assessed in each phases of menstrual cycle (menstrual phase, ovulatory phase, and luteal phase). The 24 h feeding interview was used. The collected data were statistically analyzed, α=0,05.

Results: The average age of surveyed women was 22.04±1.86 years. The average daily energy consumption was in the: menstrual phase 1841.76±562.67 kcal; ovulatory phase 1799.53±501.36 kcal; and luteal phase 2052.58±473.74 kcal. The average fat content was in the: menstrual phase 70.67±31.46 g; ovulatory phase 65.88±28.10 g; and luteal phase 79.89±27.75 g. The average carbohydrates content was in the: menstrual phase 244.59±79.88 g; ovulatory phase 247.96±83.94 g; and luteal phase 273.73±70.77 g. The average saccharose content was in the: menstrual phase 38.73±21.66 g; ovulatory phase 42.41±28.69 g; and luteal phase 64.28±39.11 g. The saccharose content was statistically significantly different between the menstrual phase and the luteal phase (P=0.0077) and the ovulatory phase and the luteal phase (P=0.0255). The average daily energy consumption was not statistically significantly different in the individual cycle phases (P=0.0572). Furthermore, there was not statistically significant differences between fat content (P=0.1178) and carbohydrates content (P=0.1797) between the individual menstrual cycle phases.

Conclusion: Oral hormonal contraceptives does not influence eating pattern of the examined women.