PMID: 6540676Jan 1, 1984Paper

Are young female gymnasts malnourished? An anthropometric, electrophysiological, and histological study

European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology
C F Lindboe, M Slettebø

Abstract

Competitive rhythmic sportive gymnastics have been accused of promoting an unphysiologic weight reduction which may progress to manifest anorexia nervosa. In this study, eight young female gymnasts who represented Norway in the European Championships in Rhythmic Sportive Gymnastics 1982 were examined for evidence of malnutrition. Ten girls, matched for age and height, served as controls. The examination included registration of anthropometric data (height, weight, and body-mass index), motor and sensory neurography and biopsies of the vastus lateralis muscle with exact measurements of muscle fibre areas on sections stained for myofibrillar ATPase activity. The mean body weight of the gymnasts did not differ from that of the control group or of a large series of age matched Norwegian females. This finding excludes the possibility of general malnutrition among the examined gymnasts. Muscle fibres of both types 1 and 2 were found to be smaller in the gymnasts than in the controls, with values of 3,404 microns2 vs 3,811 microns2 for type-1 fibres and 2,985 microns2 vs 3,942 microns2 for type-2 fibres respectively. Although contradictory to most previous reports, this finding suggests that the reduction in fibre size among the gymna...Continue Reading

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Citations

Feb 1, 1987·The Physician and Sportsmedicine·J S Borgen, C B Corbin

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