Oral Contraceptives Limit Women's Ability to Build Muscle
The study followed 73 healthy young women through a 10-week weight training program of three supervised workouts a week. All the women performed the same routine at the same intensity. They were also were encouraged to eat at least half a gram of protein per pound of body weight every day. After ten weeks, the women not taking oral contraceptives showed a 60 percent greater gain in muscle mass than those on the pill.
The women on the pill also had lower levels of the anabolic hormones, which helps build muscle, and higher levels of catabolic hormones, such as cortisol, which breaks down muscle.
Another interesting finding of this study was that the type of oral contraceptive (OC) mattered. They found that users of OCs with low-androgenicity progestins had an average muscle gain of 2.5%, whereas users of OCs containing medium- or high-androgenicity progestins had only 0.5% gain in muscle.
Finally, the researchers stated that the "other muscle responses such as strength gains and arm/leg circumferences were similar between the oral contraceptive and the non-oral contraceptive users."
The researchers concluded that oral contraceptives appear to have a negative effect on the ability for women to build lean muscle, but they weren't able to give a full explain as to why this occurs.
What to make of the study
Senior investigator Steven Riechman, Ph.D., of Texas A&M, sums the finding up this way:
"I think the implications are that so many women are taking birth control pills, and if they are active or competing, and want to achieve the highest level of performance, they need to consider whether birth control is a negative influence on that,"
What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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i would like to know their follow up to this research. i’m new to bodybuilding, and also a new fiance (and we are not ready to have a baby yet). if there is an alternative to BCP’s negative effects, i would like to know!
Thx