Unveiled connection: Vitamin D and contraceptive methods revealed in new research
Gals on the Pill Got More Sunshine in Their Veggies 🌞
Women taking estrogen-based birth control pills punches up their vitamin D levels in circulation. Conversely, if they kick the habit, they'll notice a significant drop in this crucial vitamin.
Why's vitamin D so essential, you might ask? It's the stick-in-the-mud that keeps your calcium and phosphorous levels in the blood dancing to the right rhythm. It's also a drainpipe that helps your body gobble up calcium, a vital element in bone-building.
You can chow down on fish and eggs to get your daily dose of vitamin D, but here's a fun fact: an astonishing 90% of your vitamin D is manufactured in your very own skin as a result of a chemical reaction spurred by sun exposure 🌞.
Vitamin D deficiency can lead to rickets and osteomalacia (fun name for soft bones), so it's vital during pregnancy.
Dr. Quaker E. Harmon, from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, NC, decided to dig deeper into any link between vitamin D levels and oral contraceptives.
Dancing with D and Contraception
Researchers consulted data from the Study of Environment, Lifestyle, and Fibroids (SELF), a research project on reproductive health. Focusing on nearly 1,700 African-American women from Detroit, MI aged 23-34, they uncovered some intriguing findings.
The study asked participants about their contraceptive use, including how much time they spent outdoors and whether they took vitamin D supplements.
In total, 1,662 women provided blood samples to measure levels of the most common circulating form of vitamin D, called 25-hydroxy vitamin D.
Pregnant ladies produce more of the active form of vitamin D to support their baby's bone development. Consequently, they're at heightened risk of vitamin D deficiency and, in turn, bone problems.
"Our study found that women using contraception containing estrogen had higher vitamin D levels than others."
-Dr. Quaker E. Harmon
Even after considering other factors, such as sunlight exposure, the effect remained consistent. "We couldn't find any behavioral differences such as increased time spent outdoors to explain the increase," said Dr. Harmon. "Our findings suggest that contraceptives containing estrogen boost vitamin D levels, and those levels tend to drop when women stop using contraception."
Missing the D in the Clutch
These results, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, mean that as a gal preps to get knocked up, she may face the risk of vitamin D deficiency. To play it safe, Dr. Harmon advises:
"For women planning to stop using birth control, it's smart to take steps to ensure vitamin D levels are sufficient while trying to conceive and during pregnancy."
Just what causes the estrogen-based contraception to affect vitamin D levels is still up in the air, but Dr. Harmon explains:
"We don't know why vitamin D levels are perked up. Other research suggests that the levels of other vitamin D metabolites are altered when women use estrogen-containing contraception. This implies that there might be modifications in the metabolism of vitamin D. Further study is warranted."
The study looked exclusively at African-American women, but Dr. Harmon states the same association has been spotted in women of other races too. In the US, African-American women are more likely to be vitamin D-deficient, making even minor boosts or drops in their vitamin D concentrations significant.
Dr. Harmon is following this group of women to continue investigating the relationship and is also working on a new group to investigate how vitamin D varies across the menstrual cycle.
Medical News Today inquired about the potential role of race in this effect, to which Dr. Harmon replied:
"We believe this association is unrelated to race."
- The study on reproductive health, the Study of Environment, Lifestyle, and Fibrodes (SELF), revealed that women using contraception containing estrogen had higher levels of vitamin D compared to others.
- In the research, researchers found that women taking contraceptive pills had more 25-hydroxy vitamin D, the most common circulating form of vitamin D, compared to others.
- The relationship between contraceptive use and vitamin D levels is significant, especially for women of color who are more likely to be vitamin D-deficient in the USA.
- The study's findings suggest that contraceptives containing estrogen can boost vitamin D levels, and these levels tend to drop when women stop using contraception.
- As a woman prepares to conceive, ensuring sufficient vitamin D levels is crucial, as the drop in vitamin D levels when stopping contraception use could potentially lead to deficiencies affecting health and wellness, especially women's health and bone development.
- The mystery behind why estrogen-based contraception affects vitamin D levels is still under investigation, with possible alterations in the metabolism of vitamin D being a potential explanation according to Dr. Quaker E. Harmon.
