Hi everyone, welcome to the Heath Tip of Today with Dr. Huang Wen. Today, we will explore an amazing and helpful health secret. How body composition analysis help us better understand our weight and health, in particular, how it helps to detect PCOS?
We all know BMI is a common indicator of healthy weight. But, do you know that BMI may leave out important information? Body composition analysis makes up for that. It combines BMI and body fat ratio to give us a more comprehensive understanding of our weight and health.
More importantly, it measures our skeletal bone ratio. Do you know that muscles not only make us strong? It is also our guardian! Muscles effectively takes up and stores glucose, stabilizing our glucose level.
With lower muscle ratio, we grow less sensitive to insulin, which raises the glucose level, which then causes secretion of more insulin. The vicious cycle ends up causing insulin resistance.
Insulin resistance sounds not that familiar, but it plays a key role in the development and worsening of PCOS. PCOS is a common disease in women. Around 65-70% of women are impacted by PCOS or insulin resistance. Higher level of insulin will push the ovary to produce more androgen, further unbalancing the hormone level of PCOS patients, leading to irregular menstruation, infertility and ovarian cysts.
It will also affect the secretion and balance of LH and FSH, preventing the eggs from maturing and leaving the ovary during the ovulatory period. It will cause irregular ovulation or anovulation. Also, insulin resistance will make weight control extra hard. Increased body weight will worsen insulin resistance and form a vicious cycle of continued hormone imbalance.
But don’t worry! All the necessary indicators of the body composition helps gynecologists to accurately diagnose endocrine disorders and PCOS. It allows us to spot problem early and take measures to protect health.
So next time, when you step on a scale, keep in mind that it tells a lot about your health! Remember, a healthy body is the best body!