With more girls playing sports every year, a proactive approach is vital to preventing the female athlete triad: disordered eating, menstrual irregularities, and osteoporosis. It requires raising awareness in coaches, parents and athletes.

Coaches and parents need to realize that a careless remark about weight may spur disordered eating and body image problems Athletes undergoing puberty should know that when they lose weight they often lose muscle, causing a performance decrease. There is no ideal weight for any sport. Ideally, the annual sports physical will be a time for screening and discussion of exercise intensity and caloric intake.

An additional resource is the female athlete triad coalition: http://www.femaleathletetriad.org/.