Anorexia nervosa and the hypothalamus.

A new name, "puberal starvation-amenorrhea", is proposed as more descriptive of the syndrome and less committal concerning its etiology. Though the etiology remains uncertain, a growing body of evidence--deranged hormonal secretory patterns, deficient thermal and water regulation, and other physiologic abnormalities--indicates that a specific hypothalamic dysfunction is responsible for this bizarre, sometimes lethal disease.