Before you toss your Orsythia, consider that study author Elisabeth Beaber, a staff scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington, is cautious about the findings. Beaber and her group looked at the medical records of 1,102 women diagnosed with breast cancer and 21,952 women who didn’t have breast cancer. They found that taking birth control pills increased breast cancer risk by 50% within a year of taking them, compared to those who had never used oral contraceptives or those who used to take the pill. Birth control pills containing high-dose estrogen increased breast cancer risk 2.7-fold, and those containing moderate-dose estrogen increased the risk 1.6-fold. Low-dose estrogen birth control pills did not increase breast cancer risk. Oral contraceptives have been linked to breast cancer risk in the past. Why? The hormones are suspected to aid the proliferation of cancer cells in the breast, but a definite association has not been determined. “These are preliminary findings and they need to be replicated,” Beaber says. “We are interpreting the data cautiously.” And so they should. Their study is one of the first to examine the new birth control pill formulations available, which offer a variety of estrogen dosages. Because oral contraceptives provide benefits beyond preventing pregnancy, including relief from PMS, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and endometriosis, as well as a reduced risk of ovarian cancer, women should not change their use based on this study alone, she says. MORE: The 50 Healthiest Foods For Women
