Influence of Menstrual Cycle Estradiol-?-17 Fluctuations on Energy Substrate Utilization-Oxidation during Aerobic, Endurance Exercise

Hannah N. Willett, Kristen J. Koltun and Anthony C. Hackney
Additional contact information
Hannah N. Willett: Department of Exercise & Sport Science, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
Kristen J. Koltun: Department of Sports Medicine and Nutrition, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15203, USA
Anthony C. Hackney: Department of Exercise & Sport Science, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 13, 1-6

Abstract: This study examined the effect of estradiol-?-17 across the menstrual cycle (MC) during aerobic exercise on energy substrate utilization and oxidation. Thirty-two eumenorrheic (age = 22.4 ± 3.8 y (mean ± SD)), physically active women participated in two steady-state running sessions at 65% of VO 2max , one during the early follicular and one during the luteal phase of the MC. Blood samples were collected at rest before each exercise session and analyzed for Estradiol-?-17 to confirm the MC phase. Carbohydrate (CHO) utilization and oxidation values were significantly lower ( p < 0.05) in the luteal (utilization: 51.6 ± 16.7%; oxidation: 1.22 ± 0.56 g/min; effect size (ES) = 0.45, 0.27) than follicular phase (utilization: 58.2 ± 15.1%; oxidation: 1.38 ± 0.60 g/min) exercise sessions. Conversely, fat utilization and oxidation values were significantly ( p < 0.05) higher in the luteal (utilization: 48.4 ± 16.7%; oxidation: 0.49 ± 0.19 g/min; ES = 0.45,0.28) than follicular phase (utilization: 41.8 ± 15.1%; oxidation: 0.41 ± 0.14 g/min). Estradiol-?-17 concentrations were significantly ( p < 0.01) greater during the luteal (518.5 ± 285.4 pmol/L; ES = 0.75) than follicular phase (243.8 ± 143.2 pmol/L). Results suggest a greater use of fat and reduced amount of CHO usage during the luteal versus follicular phase, directly related to the change in resting estradiol-?-17. Future research should investigate the role these changes may play in female athletic performance.

Keywords: women; hormones; physical activity; metabolism; eumenorrhea; performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/13/7209/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/13/7209/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:13:p:7209-:d:589049

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().