variations in body composition at different phases of menstrual cycle among sportswomen

Understanding about the menstrual cycle (MC) and its physiological mechanism is of great importance to the comprehension on the many biological alterations which occur at each new cycle. The aim of this study is to find out the variations in body composition at different phases of MC among sportswomen. 60 sportswomen from different games and athletes from Andhra Pradesh in the age group of 22–25 years were selected and measured of their height and weight rdthth on normal day which formed initial scores and on 3^rd, 9^th, 14^th and 21^st day of menstrual cycle which formed menstruation phase (MP), follicular phase (FP), ovulation phase (OP) and luteal phase (LP) scores respectively. Body Mass Index (BMI) of the subjects were determined based on the collected data. To test statistically significance of differences in means repeated ANOVA was used. The obtained BMI values of different phases of menstrual cycle proved that from the mean value of 24.86 at the initial stage of the sports women decreased slowly with mean values of 24.85 at MP, 24.80 at FP, 24.79 at OP and 24.72 at LP. These differences were tested for significance and the obtained F value of 25.21 was significant (P<0.05). The post hoc analysis proved that comparing with initial level BMI, different phases of menstrual cycle has significant decrease in BMI The paired mean comparisons further proved that the decrease was significant from one phase to another. Thus, the results of this study proved that among sports women there was decrease in weight which caused reduction of BMI. Thus, it was concluded that slight decrease in body weight recorded in the menstrual cycle phases resulted in reduction of BMI among sportswomen.