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Combination birth control could reduce your risk of ovarian cancer

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Different kinds of birth control
Different kinds of birth control

The study, published in the journal BMJ, found that women who have taken combination birth control pills at some point in their lives had fewer instances of ovarian cancer than women who had never been on birth control pills. 

The authors of the study, which involved nearly two million women, concluded that “use of hormonal contraception prevented 21% of ovarian cancers in the study population.” In addition, the longer women stayed on the pill, the more their risk of ovarian cancer reduced.

READ MORE: 11 easy ways to get rid of period bloating (8 won't even cost you anything extra)

These benefits were only seen in women who took The Pill that contains both the hormones oestrogen and progestin and not pills that contained progestin only (sometimes called the “mini pill”). But not many women in the study did take progestin only pills. 

To get their results, researchers examined data from the Danish Sex Hormone Register Study. It chronicled the health of women 15-79 years old between 1995 and 2014.

As CNN reports, previous studies have linked other birth control pills that were popular until the 80s to a lower risk of ovarian cancer. But this new study shows that more recently released pills have the same benefits. This is great news for anyone who takes—or has ever taken—the combination pill.

READ MORE: What exactly is adenomyosis — and how is it linked to infertility?

This latest study is just another reason why birth control should be accessible to all women for more than just avoiding pregnancy. There are many benefits including period regulation, clearing of acne and even decrease in pain from conditions like endometriosis. 

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