Brain region found smaller in birth control pill users, say researchers

Researchers have found out women having oral contraceptives that are commonly called birth control pills have significantly smaller hypothalamus volume as compared to those women not consuming the pills, as per a health-line portal livescience.com. The research findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Read on further to know more in details.

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As per a study, the brain region is smaller in birth control users

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The professor of radiology, Michael L. Lipton stated the same during his speech at the Gruss Magnetic Resonance Research Center at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the United State of America. Oral contraceptives are among the most popular forms of birth controls and they are also used to treat a host of conditions that includes irregular menstruation, cramps, acne, endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome, as added by Lipton. Lipton went on and added further that the initial study shows a strong association and should motivate further investigation into the effects of oral contraceptives on brain structure.

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For the medical study, the researchers reportedly recruited a group of 50 healthy women, including 21 women who were consuming oral contraceptive pills. The whole group of 50 women underwent brain MRI, and a proper validated approach was used to measure the hypothalamic volume of the brain. As described further by Lipton, the other findings and research reports from the given study suggested that Z smaller hypothalamic volume was also relatively associated with greater anger and showcased a very strong correlation with the depressive symptoms. However, the initial study has till now found no significant link between hypothalamic volume and cognitive performance.  The validated methods for assessing the volume of the hypothalamus state that current oral contraceptive pill usage is associated with smaller hypothalamic volume.

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