Several epidemiological studies have emphasized the importance of body composition, especially of abdominal or android fat distribution patterns, as risk factors for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases such as diabetes mellitus. It seems obvious that steroid hormones have effects on human adipose tissue metabolism and distribution. In the female sex, body composition parameters and weight status are also clearly associated with reproductive function. The importance of body fat and energetics for female reproductive success was first pointed out during the seventies of the last century by Rose Frisch although the so-called Frisch hypothesis has been disproved. Despite the fact that energy costs of human reproduction are lower than those of any other group of mammals, human ovarian function is extremely vulnerable to an energy imbalance. Pregnancy requires about 50000 calories over and above normal metabolic requirements and lactation requires from 500 to 1000 calories per day. Therefore ovarian function shows a graded continuum from fully competent cycles through luteal phase suppression, follicular phase suppression, ovulatory failure, oligomenorrhoea to amenorrhea in response to endogenous and exogenous factors affecting energy balance. But not only a negative energy balance and a low amount of body fat are negatively associated with human ovarian function, also a highly elevated amount of body fat and android kind of fat patterning seem to affect female reproductive function negatively.
A disturbed ovarian function seems to be associated with an extremely low or an extremely high amount of body fat and abdominal or android fat patterning which is typical in healthy women during postmenopause only. Furthermore an android kind of fat patterning is associated with significantly decreased conception rates. In this way body composition parameters as well as fat distribution patterns may be interpreted as extragenital markers of human ovarian function. This is especially true during peri- and postmenopause, when body composition, especially fat patterning changes markedly. Menopause is an universal experience of human females, however, ways of reacting to it and interpreting it vary significantly between different cultures. While in the majority of traditional societies the irreversible termination of reproductive capability is associated with positive attitudes, in western industrialised societies menopause is mentioned as a typical sign of ageing and every sign of ageing is interpreted exclusively as negative in the youth-oriented culture of western societies. In addition to ageing in general, the typical somatic changes which take place during middle age and menopausal transition effect female life in a considerable, predominantly negative, manner and leads to increased psychic distress. Biological ageing is in general and in both sexes associated with adverse changes in body build. Stature decreases caused by increasing kyphosis, a narrowing of the intervertebral discs and sometimes by a collapse of the vertebrae as a reason of postmenopausal bone loss and osteoporosis. In contrast, body weight increases and body composition and body proportions change in an adverse manner. Gynoid fat distribution patterns change into android fat patterning, characterized by a high amount of visceral body fat. All these somatic alterations are in contradiction to our culture dependent standards of female attractiveness and lead in this way to a negative self perception of the affected women. Furthermore several health risk factors, responsible for morbidity and mortality during this phase of life are known to be associated with the somatic alterations during menopausal transition. Therefore the visible somatic changes accompanying menopause are important factors making this phase of life so uncomfortable for affected women in our society.

Previous projects:

• Body composition and  reproductive function in females

Current project:

• Body composition and health