Health experts have warned that extreme dieting and eating disorder can leave women infertile at an early age.

The normal warning sign that a woman’s fertility is being affected is when her periods stop.

The hypothalamus in the brain controls the release of hormones from the pituitary gland that drives the menstrual cycle, stimulating the ovaries to produce eggs, the Daily Mail quoted Dr Marie Wren, deputy medical director of the Lister Fertility clinic in London, as saying.

But if a woman loses a lot of weight, this process shuts down. Its the bodys way of preserving what resources it has. If a woman menstruates, she loses iron; and if she has little nutritional input, she can’t afford to lose that, she stated.

Bulimia, an eating disorder when person binge eats and purges food through vomiting or laxatives, and faddy yo-yo dieting can also trigger this process.

If you are just losing a few pounds either way youll probably be fine, but if your weight is really going from one extreme to another than this may happen, she added.

Following low-calorie restrictive diets may also compromise a womans chance of getting pregnant.

If you arent getting enough nutrients, then your body will not function as normal and this will reduce fertility, said Dr Wren.