Pill Found To Hinder Muscle Growth

Still going strong after fifty years, the oral contraceptive commonly called The Pill is still the most popular form of birth control used among women. Over the fifty years it has improved and now it contains less hormones which translates to less hormones. There are also a number of health benefits that women benefit from from taking the Pill for long periods of time - lighter periods, clear skin, a reduced risk of ovarian cancer, endometrial cancers, and colorectal cancer. Unfortunately, one new drawback which has been found when it comes to taking the pill is that women have a harder time building lean muscle mass.

New research has found that taking oral contraceptives can hinder the muscle gain for women under 35 who are taking the pill and are trying to gain muscle mass through strength training. The researchers studied 73 young women who were ranging in age from 18 to 31. Of these, 34 used oral contraceptives and 39 did not. Both groups participated in a physical resistance exercise program consisting of 13 exercises performed three times per week for 10 weeks. At each session, they completed three sets of six to 10 repetitions of each exercise at 75 percent of maximum strength. The women were also advised to eat a diet rich in protein to gain muscle. It was found that there were huge differences in muscle gain between the women taking the pill and those not taking the pill. Those on the pill gained 2.1 percent of muscle mass compared to 3.5 percent in the other group of women. The women on the pill were tested and it was found that they had much lower levels of essential hormones which build muscle - DHEA, DHEAS and IGF-1.  The ways in which both groups of women increased their strength were very similar.

Should you stop taking the pill? Most exerts agree that the benefits of taking the pill outweigh the negatives. Women who are extremely physical and are set on attaining a certain amount of muscle mass to enhance their athletic abilities may find that the pill is hindering their performance. In this case, they may want to look at different forms of birth control but for the large percentage of women this should not be a big enough factor to discourage them from taking the Pill.