The more studies are done, the more health problems chemical contraception gets linked to.
At the end of 2014, health outlets released studies that contraceptive users have a higher incidence of multiple sclerosis. In early 2015, neurologists shared that women who use contraception have a higher risk of a specific type of brain tumor called a glioma. And now, there is more bad news.
A preliminary report given in San Diego at the Digestive Disease Week meeting, informed the audience that the use of oral contraceptives appears to be linked to inflammatory bowel disease (IBS.) IBS causes inflammation of the lining and wall of the large or small intestines causing diarrhea, abdominal cramping and rectal bleeding.
Dr. Hamed Khalli, a clinical and research fellow of gastroenterology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, based his findings on the data from the U.S. Nurses Health Studies that studied the health of about 233,000 women from 1976 – 2008. He compared those who never used birth control pills to those who did and found that BCP users have a three times greater risk of a specific form of IBS known as Chrohn’s Disease.
This report showed and association between BCP and IBS, not a cause-and-effect relationship. However, animal studies have found that the colon is more vulnerable to inflammation when estrogen is given. It changes the permeability of the colon, Khalli explained.
by Alice B. Heinzen