It’s a mystery why estrogen helps with eating disorders. Maybe it has something to do with the estrogen receptors in the appetite centers of the brain. Maybe the patch works better than the pill because there’s no first-pass through the liver, Dr. Singhal said.
Subjects were aged about 20 years, on average. OA women had a mean body mass index of 20.6 kg/m2 and a mean estradiol level of 45 pg/mL. Subjects with regular periods had mean BMIs of about 22 kg/m2; mean estradiol levels were 70.2 pg/mL in eumenorrheic athletes and 83.6 pg/mL in nonathletic women.
The work was funded by the National Institutes of Health. The investigators didn’t have any relevant disclosures.
SOURCE: Plessow F et al. ENDO 2018, Abstract SAT-290.