Any reason for decreased nutrient intake or loss of nutrients, which causes weight loss to less than eighty per cent of ideal weight for height (including chronic disease), can lead to reversion to the prepubertal state of decreased pulsatility of gonadotrophin secretion, causing effective hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism. When weight gain occurs, the subject passes through the stages of increased nocturnal gonadotrophin secretion, followed by increased gonadotrophin secretion throughout the twenty-four-hour period - the same sequence as found in a child going through normal puberty.
