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Abstract ObjectiveBone mineral density (BMD) and frame size are important predictors of future bone health, with smaller frame size and lower BMD associated with higher risk of later fragility fractures. We test the effects of body size, habitual use, and life history on frame size and cortical BMD of the radius and tibia in sample of healthy adult premenopausal women. MethodsWe used anthropometry and life history data from 123 women (age 18‐46) from rural Poland. Standard techniques were used to measure height, weight, and body fat. Life history factors were recorded using surveys. Grip strength was measured as a proxy for habitual activity, wrist breadth for skeletal frame size. Cortical BMD was measured at the one‐third distal point of the radius and mid‐point of the tibia using quantitative ultrasound (reported as speed of sound, SoS). ResultsRadial SoS was high (meant‐score 3.2 ± 1.6), but tibia SoS was average (meant‐score 0.35 ± 1.17). SoS was not associated with age, although wrist breadth was positively associated with age after adjusting for height. Radius SoS was not associated with measures of body size, habitual use, or life history factors. Wrist breadth was associated with body size (p < .05 for all), lean mass, and grip strength. Tibia SoS was associated with height. Life history factors were not associated with frame size or cortical SoS. ConclusionsHabitual use and overall body size are more strongly associated with frame size and cortical SoS than life history factors in this sample of healthy adult women. 

Abstract ObjectiveAge at menarche in Poland has varied with political and socioeconomic changes. An increase in age at menarche corresponded to a period of economic crisis and food rationing between 1976 and 1989. Experiencing food shortages in utero or during childhood development can affect menarcheal timing, but this national effect may be buffered in local agrarian regions growing their own food. Here we examine patterns of age at menarche over time in the rural, agrarian Beskid Wyspowy region of southern Poland. MethodsThis study examined menarcheal timing using data collected from Polish women (n = 1326) recruited at the Mogielica Human Ecology Study Site between 2003 and 2018. Simple linear regressions were used to assess changing ages at menarche over time. Comparisons between ages at menarche for women born before and after the fall of communism in 1989 were assessed via one‐way analysis of variance. ResultsAge at menarche has declined over time in the Beskid Wyspowy region of southern Poland from 1920 to 2000 (R²= .08,P < .0001). There was not a statistically significant increase or decrease in age at menarche for women born and growing up during the period of food rationing. ConclusionsThe declining age at menarche is likely reflective of a transitioning environment, suggesting that major socioeconomic changes affect life history traits like pubertal timing. Living in agricultural regions may have helped buffer the increasing ages at menarche seen in other areas of Poland during times of food rationing.