The Nation - News from May 22, 1986

Young girls who diet and exercise so much that they delay puberty apparently are prone to curvature of the spine and bone brittleness leading to fractures, researchers said in a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The new study involving ballet dancers found that pre-pubescent girls who exercised and dieted to maintain the classic ballerina’s figure often began menstruating late and were likely to develop scoliosis and broken bones.