Natural selection has linked the physiological controls of energy balance and fertility such that reproduction is deferred during lean times, particularly in female mammals. In this way, an energetically costly process is confined to periods when sufficient food is available to support pregnancy and lactation. Even in the face of abundance, nutritional infertility ensues if energy intake fails to keep pace with expenditure. A working hypothesis is proposed in which any activity or condition that limits the availability of oxidizable fuels (e.g., undereating, excessive energy expenditure, diabetes mellitus) can inhibit both gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH)/luteinizing hormone secretion and female copulatory behaviors. Decreases in metabolic fuel availability appear to be detected by cells in the caudal hindbrain. Hindbrain neurons producing neuropeptide Y (NPY) and catecholamines (CA) then project to the forebrain where they contact GnRH neurons both directly and also indirectly via corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) neurons to inhibit GnRH secretion. In the case of estrous behavior, the best available evidence suggests that the inhibitory NPY/CA system acts primarily via CRH or urocortin projections to various forebrain loci that control sexual receptivity. Disruption of these signaling processes allows normal reproduction to proceed in the face of energetic deficits, indicating that the circuitry responds to energy deficits and that no signal is necessary to indicate that there is an adequate energy supply. While there is a large body of evidence to support this hypothesis, the data do not exclude nutritional inhibition of reproduction by other pathways and processes, and the full story will undoubtedly be more complex than this. luteinizing hormone; estrous behavior; corticotropin-releasing hormone; neuropeptide Y; hindbrain OF NECESSITY, the physiological controls of reproduction and energy balance are closely intertwined. Living creatures require a steady stream of oxidizable substrates to fuel their many energy-consuming activities, including reproduction. But in nature, energetic demands and opportunities for meal taking can be erratic and sometimes unpredictable, necessitating the existence of physiological and behavioral strategies to maximize chances of individual survival and permit propagation of the species (21,22,200,208).A need to eat constantly is obviated by the presence of internal caloric buffers that store glycogen and fatty acids and provide sustenance in between meals and during brief fasts. When food is abundant, animals adjust their intakes to meet all demands and keep their storage depots full (or overfull in an increasing number of cases). However, a more likely scenario in nature and during human evolution is that food can be scarce or have a very high acquisition cost. In that case, animals adjust their energetic priorities, i.e., how they partition and use the available metabolic fuels (Fig.