The FDA weighs in on blood clots and birth control
We’ve written before about concerns that some brands of the pill (along with the patch ) carry a higher risk of blood clots than others. Last week, the FDA officially concluded that the benefits of the brands in question outweigh the drawbacks, but that their labels should be updated to warn of the higher blood […]
Some good news about birth control and heart health
With all the recent press about the pill and blood clots, you may be wondering if you should be worried about heart health while using birth control. Fear not, a new study shows that women using progestin-only methods—like the implant , the mini-pill, and the shot —were no more likely to have a heart attack […]
Know what’s risky? Pregnancy.
A new study from the Harbor UCLA Medical Center asked women from all walks of life to rate the risks of pregnancy versus birth control. The 246 women of all ages, education levels, and family sizes knew about some risks, but didn’t know which were more likely to occur. About half of the participants knew […]
Sexy thoughts
Ever wonder where the claim that “men think about sex every seven seconds” came from? It’s so widely known that Snopes has debunked it —and we can assure you it’s not based on scientific research. A new study from an Ohio State University shows that the real number is more like every 4,275 seconds, or […]
Blame it on the pill (again)
Another day, another study attempting to link the world’s ills to the birth control pill. Headlines are blaring news of a study, published in BMJ Open , that alleges that the pill may cause prostate cancer. In fact, as others have noted , what the study really shows is that rates of prostate cancer are […]
Pap smear every year? Not so much.
A government-backed panel released new recommendations for women of reproductive age to get a pap smear every 3 years rather than annually. The recommendations are still in draft form and accepting public comment, but given that cancer patient advocacy groups like the American Cancer Society have voiced their support for the recommendations, they may not […]
The pill messes with memory? Forget about it!
Sure, we know remembering to take your birth control every day can be hard. But some recent headlines are saying that birth control pills actually alter women’s memory… Really? The short answer is that—in spite of the headlines—we still don’t know. Memory and hormones: Is there a connection? The real story on hormones and memory […]
Pill good news and bad news
There was good news and not-so-good news for the pill this week. First, the good news: a new study confirms that women who have ever taken the pill—even for just a few years—have long-lasting protection from ovarian cancer. Previous research has shown that the pill also protects against uterine cancer and that, contrary to popular […]
Debunking the birth control/memory myth
You may have caught recent headlines to the effect that hormonal birth control was found to affect women’s memory. The study making the news tested women’s ability to remember details about disturbing pictures a week after they viewed them, and claimed to have found a difference between women who were on the pill and those […]
