Door: HLN – Valeriya Gornostayeva
More and more women are opting for an IUD these days. The pill is becoming less popular: some women notice side effects of those hormones on their libido, body and mood. For some, there is also an increased risk of blood clots or thrombosis. If you are approaching menopause, there is an increased risk of breast cancer.
According to some women, the hormones in contraception are the ‘culprits’. The pill, injection or a stick release the synthetic hormones estrogen and progesterone. They ensure that ovulation does not take place and they thicken the cervical mucous membrane to prevent sperm cells or the implantation of a fertilized egg. The hormonal IUD contains one synthetic hormone, progestogen, for a similar effect.
But a new study now shows that better alternatives with far fewer hormones may be a possibility. The research was led by Diliman University in the Philippines, together with fellow scientists from Korea, the United States and Denmark.
The group of scientists studied 23 healthy women between the ages of 20 and 34 with a regular menstrual cycle. To this end, they developed computer models that display and predict the interactions between hormone levels and the effects of administered hormones. Researchers successfully used a similar method in 2019 and 2020 in studies of treatments for diabetes and prostate cancer.
The results showed that the hormonal contraceptives would still work just as well if they delivered much lower doses of the hormones. About 92 percent less estrogen and 43 percent less progesterone was enough to get the same effects, to be precise.
In addition, it would be equally effective to only administer estrogen around the middle of the follicular phase (the first 14 days of your cycle, just before ovulation, ed.), so around days 7 and 8 of the cycle. instead of 28 days.
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Bron: HLN
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2023-07-23 11:00:00
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