Sep 15 2009
Strike another one against the pill
At the risk of sounding like a crusty old goat (again), isn’t this a high price to pay for sterile sex? We’re talking about teenagers, here, not adult women.
When it comes to birth control, it’s widely believed that the lower the hormone dose, the better. But according to a new study, pills with lower levels of estrogen may interfere with the bone development of teenagers. Dr. Jan Stepan of Charles University in Prague found that teens who took low-dose pills experienced lower levels of bone growth and bone density compared with those who took higher-dose pills. The reason, says Stepan, is that lower levels of estrogen suppress the body’s release of the hormone but does not fully replace it.
No related posts.
I find the lack of hard numbers concerning – for all that article says, it might just be a 1% increase in risk. But it’s 1:30 AM, I’m not going hunting for the paper right now.