Welcome to another PCOS news roundup! This week’s stories mainly feature one of my pet peeves when it comes to discussion and coverage of PCOS: weight (grrrr).

PCOS & Weight

What always bothers me about the way the weight-PCOS relationship is portrayed is that it usually implies that women who have PCOS and are overweight (which is many but not all of them, there is also lean PCOS, which is often underdiagnosed due to the prevalent theory that only overweight women have it) are not “trying hard enough” to lose weight, when in fact it is one of the hardest things to do with PCOS, even with a great diet and exercise/lifestyle plan.

Weight with PCOS is a paradox: it does get worse the more overweight someone is, but it’s hard to lose because of the unique hormonal issues associated with PCOS–in a word, it’s *frustrating*! It makes many of us feel something like this:

via GIPHY

So all of that is on my mind whenever I see yet another article about how “women should just lose weight to improve their PCOS–simple, right?!?!!!??!” Like this one:

Women with PCOS gain more weight annually, affected more by lifestyle factors (via Healio)

Much of what’s written in here, even though it’s portrayed as groundbreaking, seems pretty obvious and typical to me–yes, women with PCOS tend to gain more weight more easily than women without it, which is especially compounded by certain lifestyle factors. Yeah. Got it.

Though what is interesting here is specific lifestyle factors that may make weight gain with PCOS worse, such as: time spent sitting (an issue for all of humanity at this point), greater intake of foods with high glycemic index and energy intake, and lower physical activity. Most of that is still obvious, but it’s still good to know.

While I understand that the intentions behind advising women with PCOS to lose weight (here I mostly mean doctors) are mostly good and meant to be helpful (and to some degree true), I really just wish this advice was given less bluntly and in such a simple way. Because the truth is that each person’s ability to lose weight with PCOS is going to vary, and while diet and exercise (depending on your specific needs/preferences) are always more helpful than not helpful, there is often more to it–because of all the hormonal interactions with androgens (mainly testosterone), maybe you need a certain type of medication like spironolactone or metformin. Just saying “eat healthier and do some more jumping jacks” and sending people on their way is NOT helpful. PCOS is such a complex condition that requires and deserves so much more attention than that.

So that’s my rant on that.

PCOS and Race/Ethnicity

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome among Kashmiri women above 30%, highest across globe: ICMR (via Free Press Kashmir)

Besides finding natural, non-hormonal ways to help PCOS, my strongest PCOS-related interest is learning how it affects women of different races/ethnicities. Until recently there hasn’t been much research on this at all, but I see trickles of it coming in every so often, particularly on black women in some of my previous posts, so when I do see it I try to read up on it.

I’ve also seen quite a few stores specifically on PCOS and its impact on Indian women. This is quite interesting, as India is the 2nd most populous country in the world, so if PCOS is becoming a trend among women there, it will only become a bigger and bigger health issue for this population. This recent story about the prevalence of PCOS being more than 30% among women in the region of Kashmir posits that this is the highest percentage in the world.

According to the study, 33.3% of Kashmiri women have PCOS according to the Rotterdam Criteria, the main criteria used to diagnose PCOS, which means you must exhibit at least 2 of 3 of these symptoms/conditions: polycystic ovaries (diagnosable by ultrasound), anovulation (absence of periods; irregular periods also qualify here), and hyperandrogenism (high levels of androgens, mainly testosterone; can be determined by bloodwork but also seen in severe acne, hirsutism or body/facial hair, thinning hair on scalp, and more). The exact percentage can vary slightly based on the specific diagnostic criteria used, but here it still hovers around 30%. Androgens/testosterone appears to be a particular problem in this population.

We’ll have to see more on studies like these as they develop, but this is pretty interesting and makes me wonder: is this a genetic thing? Environmental? There’s so much more to learn about how PCOS affects specific populations, and I hope more comes along soon.

What PCOS/women’s health news are you reading lately? Add yours below!

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Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional and do not claim to offer medical advice in these posts. These are meant to be informational only. Please consult further with your doctor for specific advice and treatment plans.

Image by Charisse Kenion on Unsplash