The idea that birth control pills make the user gain weight has been floating around since the first appearance of contraceptive pills on the market in the 1950’s, but hasn’t been true for quite some time. Early contraceptive pills used only estrogen to prevent pregnancy, and they used it in massive quantities- initial pills had 10 mg of estrogen per daily pill. As the science of contraception developed however, it became obvious that lower doses of estrogen would accomplish the same effects (with fewer side effects), and the doses eventually dropped to the modern average of 35 µg per daily pill. While the high doses of estrogen were associated with weight gain in users, the modern amounts have dropped so low that studies find no relationship between combination birth control pills and the weight of their users.
Myth busted!
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