Polycystic ovary syndrome tied to obesity

Posted by: Curt | Under: General Fitness | (0) Comments

MSNBC has an article about a relatively unknown condition among women called polycystic ovary syndrome. The symtoms are acne;  hair growth on the face, chest, stomach and other areas; weight gain; patches of thick, dark brown skin and other traits that would be very embarrassing to most women. The thing that caught my eye is that the study sees a correlation with obesity-

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While the exact cause of PCOS isn’t clear, obesity is a major risk factor for the condition, says Robert Norman, one of the authors of the review recently published in the medical journal The Lancet.

“It’s a condition that’s relatively silent when you’re thin,” says Norman, director of the Research Centre for Reproductive Health at the University of Adelaide, Australia. “But as people go from being thin to being overweight, it suddenly becomes visible.”

…Researchers think that as some women gain weight, their bodies experience a sort of insulin overload, which increases production of male hormones known as androgens.

 If you know someone at risk for this condition, you may want to pass this article along. I really wonder how many other diseases and conditions we are going to find linked to obesity as time moves on. It is like our bodies are telling us that they were never meant to live like this- if we will only listen!