I think the media may have been reading my posts, because they just reported some positive birth control news for a change! A new study from Britain released this week shows that using the birth control pill can protect you against ovarian cancer for 30 years or longer, even after you stop taking them. And the longer you use the pill, the greater the amount of protection--you can cut your risk of cancer in half by using the pill for 15 years. Another study has shown an 80% reduction in ovarian cancer risk with ten years of use. And that's ten years of total use, not in a row.

Many of my patients stop using the pill between relationships--they don't want the hassle, or "the daily reminder I'm not having sex," as one of them put it. But the pill has a lot of other health benefits, and studies like this one may give my patients a reason to stay on the pill, even for non-birth-control reasons.

One of the reasons that ovarian cancer is so deadly is that docs have no good screening tools--blood tests and even ultrasounds haven't been very effective. So when the cancer is finally detected, it's pretty advanced. I tell my patients, especially the ones with a family history of ovarian cancer, that taking the birth control pill is one of the best things they can do for their health. The study's authors calculated that use of the pill has so far prevented 100,000 ovarian cancer deaths worldwide...now that's the kind of birth control pill news that belongs in headlines! Were any of you pill users aware of this benefit?