Daniella is a dancer trying to get into the New York City Ballet. She knows that it is very competitive, so she is practicing several hours a day. She also knows that ballerinas need to be very thin, so she is restricting her diet to 600 calories a day and only eats fruits and vegetables. She continues her workout and dietary routine for several months and on the day of her audition she feels

Question

very weak. She ends up passing out during her audition and as the athletic trainer and physician are evaluating Daniella, they notice that she has several bruises and frequent muscle spasms. Why is Daniella having all of these problems?

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Dancing is a type of athletic activity, a form of exercise that can be very challenging to the body. As she practices,
she burns a considerable amount of calories. If she is not replenishing them with a balanced diet and ample
calories, she will not have the fat stores she needs to do anaerobic respiration. If she continues to limit the fat in her
diet to almost none, it will be hard for her to build up the necessary fat stores to make energy through
beta-oxidation of fats, decreasing her endurance and making her weak. Her body may even resort to catabolism of
muscle in order to perform gluconeogenesis, causing her to lose strength. In addition, the lack of fat in her diet will
make it difficult to absorb enough vitamin K, which will make it harder for her to clot-causing the bruising noticed
by the physician and trainer. The lack of electrolytes in her diet may make her nerves and muscles become deficient
in calcium and potassium, and they may not function properly. Finally, if she is undergoing catabolic breakdown of
her muscle, that would increase the osmolarity of her cells and interstitial fluid, drawing more fluid from the blood
and dropping blood pressure, making it more likely that she could develop orthostatic hypotension.