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Study: Birth Control Pill Does Not Make Teens Fat

SteelWeaver

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Study: Birth Control Pill Does Not Make Teens Fat

Study: Birth Control Pill Does Not Make Teens Fat


Reuters Health

By Charnicia E. Huggins

Wednesday, July 31, 2002

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The idea that taking birth control
pills leads to weight gain appears to be a myth, new study
findings show.

"Perceived weight gain is the number-one reason for adult
women discontinuing use of oral contraceptives," Dr. Tom Lloyd,
director of the Pennsylvania State Young Women's Health Study
at Pennsylvania State College of Medicine, told Reuters Health.
"Our study demonstrated that oral contraceptive use by teen
women does not affect body weight or body composition."

To investigate, Lloyd, a professor in health evaluation sciences,
and his colleagues conducted a 9-year study of 66 white girls
who were age 12 at the start of the study. Thirty-nine of the girls
were taking oral contraceptives at age 21.

The birth control users reported being on the Pill for an average
28 months, yet their increases in weight, body mass index (a
measurement of weight in relation to height) and percent body
fat was similar to that of their peers, the investigators report in
the August issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

The two groups also had similar increases in height and
decreases in percent lean body mass, the report indicates.

On the other hand, the birth control users exhibited much greater
increases in their levels of total cholesterol, LDL (the "bad"
cholesterol), and triglycerides than did their peers who did not
use oral contraceptives--a finding opposite to what has been
observed among adult women, the researchers note.

Still, the girls' total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and trigylceride
levels were all within the normal range, Lloyd said.

"The present study provides evidence that oral contraceptive use
by teenage girls...does not affect body composition, and we
suggest that potential users be counseled accordingly," Lloyd's
team concludes.

Because the study was conducted among healthy white females,
however, "the results might differ (among other individuals)
according to ethnicity, obesity, and exercise patterns," Lloyd
added.

SOURCE: Obstetrics and Gynecology 2002;100:235-239.
 
"...girls who were age 12 at the start of the study..."

12?! Forgive my ignorance, but are there really so many 12 year olds on birth control? I'm aware girls are reaching puberty earlier, but I guess I'm just from the dark ages. At 12, I was still galloping around the playground pretending I was a horse - a showjumper, NOT a broodmare. :D Wake-up call for me. Good thing I'm not a parent. I'd be arrested for making my kids wear chastity belts.
 
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