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Increasingly more female teenagers participate in strenuous sports activities. Like their male counterparts, competition is fierce to excel and to win. Especially for the talented teenagers, their coaches and parents, with college athletic scholarships or even the Olympics as goals, the pressures and efforts are enormous.
As a practicing pediatrician for many years, I have a good deal of experience with young athletes. This article will only discuss the female athlete. The male young athlete will be discussed at another time.
The problem I have faced, as have other pediatricians and family physicians that care for adolescents, is what is known as "the female athlete triad." This is a well-known syndrome characterized by amenorrhea, osteoporosis and disordered eating.
The usual scenario is as follows: The triad often starts with a young woman trying to become fit to perform in a particular sport. The focus is on leanness and speed. The young female athlete often assumes that these attributes can only be accomplished by losing weight. She therefore increases training time and volume and lowers her calorie intake in order to...