Publication:

Dietary intake and its association with body composition and hormonal profile among women with polycystic ovary syndrome from Chandigarh capital region, India

Background Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is globally prevalent endocrine and metabolic disorder among women in the reproductive age. The present study is an attempt to assess dietary intake and their relationship with hormonal profile and body composition variables in overweight/obese and non-obese women having PCOS.

Methods The sample consisted of 250 PCOS women, aged from 18 to 45 years living in Chandigarh Capital region (CCR) was collected from tertiary hospital. The dietary intake of PCOS women was evaluated by employing 24-hours dietary recall method for three consecutive days. The hormonal history of follicle stimulating hormone, luteinising hormone, free testosterone and fasting insulin were obtained from medical record of the patients. Visceral fat and total body fat percentage of each subject has been assessed by using bioelectrical impedance method.

Results Analysis of the data exhibited that the intake of total energy, protein, calcium, iron, and vitamin A were higher in non-obese women than their overweight/obese counterparts, while both the groups of PCOS women depicted inadequate dietary intake as compared to RDA values. Interestingly, intake of carbohydrate and fat content of overweight/obese as well as non-obese PCOS groups was higher than the recommended dietary allowance (RDA), which may be responsible to disturb the hormonal level and biochemical characteristics in PCOS women. The luteinising hormone recorded a positive and significant correlation with fat intake (r=0.2) and calcium intake with free testosterone in overweight/obese PCOS women (r=0.2).

Conclusions Therefore, inadequate diet intake than recommended dietary allowance in PCOS women may leads to disturb hormonal profile. Hence, diet modifications with low carbohydrate and fat intake as well as weight management is first-line strategy to control furtherance of PCOS among women.