New Study Reveals That Oral Contraceptives Shrink Women's Brains

Is parenthood stupid? Not according to a recent Radiological Society of North America study indicating that oral contraceptives shrink a woman’s brain.

As reported by LifeSiteNews, the study “looked at MRI scans of 50 healthy women, 21 of whom were taking oral contraceptive pills, and found that ‘women taking birth control pills had significantly smaller hypothalamus volume.'”

In case you’re wondering (and I know you are), the hypothalamus helps regulate functions such as heart rate, body temperature, appetite, and emotions.

The study was in lieu of much information on birth control’s structural and functional impact on the brain.

The conclusion: It can make you a bit…emotional.

From the RSNA:

“Smaller hypothalamic volume was…associated with greater anger and showed a strong correlation with depressive symptoms.”

But, just so you know:

“The study found no significant correlation between hypothalamic volume and cognitive performance.”

As per the study, the difference in size between women on the pill and off was “dramatic.”

Here’s the way Montefiore Medical Center Medical Director of MRI Services Dr. Michael Lipton laid it out:

“We found a dramatic difference in the size of the brain structures between women who were taking oral contraceptives and those who were not. We validated methods for assessing the volume of the hypothalamus and confirm, for the first time, that current oral contraceptive pill usage is associated with smaller hypothalamic volume. This initial study shows a strong association (between taking oral contraceptive pills and low hypothalamic volume) and should motivate further investigation into the effects of oral contraceptives on brain structure and their potential impact on brain function.”

And more on emotions, from LifeSite:

“In 2016, Danish researchers who studied the medical histories of more than a million women over an 18-year period found that women who use hormonal contraceptives are more likely to be depressed. A study conducted by German researchers in 2016 found that oral contraceptive pills may be damaging women’s sense of emotional connection. In 2017, another Danish study suggested a link between the use of hormonal contraceptives and mood disturbances linked to increased suicide rates.”

In addition to issues above the neck, there’s other potential physiological damage from the ol’ BC: As pointed out by The Daily Wire, a New England Journal of Medicine study shows that a decade of oral prevention increases the risk of breast cancer by a whopping 38%. That number begins the first year at 9%.

Back to hypothalamic size, spread the news to all the angry, depressed men you know — as Julián Castro taught us in the June debate, they can get pregnant, too.

And just for fun, say it with me again, just like him — “Justice”: