WEIGHT AT MENARCHE: SIMILARITY FOR WELL-NOURISHED AND UNDERNOURISHED GIRLS AT DIFFERING AGES, AND EVIDENCE FOR HISTORICAL CONSTANCY

¹ Harvard Center for Population Studies, Cambridge, Massachusetts

The mean weight at menarche of 30 undernourished Alabama girls did not differ from that of 30 well-nourished controls, although the undernourished girls attained menarche two years later than controls and at a significantly greater height. This supports the hypothesis that a critical weight triggers menarche. The weight-dependency of menarche, irrespective of a causal relationship, reduces variation in body size at sexual maturity by delaying or advancing the age of sexual maturation as a compensation for environmental or genetic variation. Recent and historical evidence indicates that the mean weight at menarche of Caucasian girls has been about 46 kg. for over a century.

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