Eating fewer calories might help women with a health condition called PCOS by lowering certain hormone levels, making their bodies respond better to sugar, and helping them have regular periods.

Women with PCOS are more sensitive to the negative effects of fat in the blood — their muscles struggle much more to use sugar when fat levels rise, compared to women without PCOS.

In individuals with polycystic ovary syndrome, a specific type of body fat around the hips and thighs appears to lower risk primarily by improving how the body responds to insulin, with fasting insulin levels accounting for most of this protective effect.

Women with PCOS who exercised regularly became fitter and had better blood sugar control, but didn’t lose weight or change their fat levels in the blood.

Women of European ancestry with a genetic tendency to store more fat around the hips and thighs have a 15.5% lower risk of developing polycystic ovary syndrome, likely due to better insulin regulation and lower leptin levels, compared to those with different fat distribution patterns.

For obese women with PCOS, taking metformin along with a low-calorie diet helps them lose more weight, shrink belly fat, lower male hormone levels, and get more regular periods than just dieting alone.