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Insight and Health

The unknown effect of the pill on teenage bones and brains

Thousands of teenage girls worldwide take hormonal contraception. But despite changes in legislation, we still don't know what this does to their bodies

By Jessica Hamzelou

6 July 2016

Girls walking

Marie Genel/Picturetank

TEENAGE pregnancies have hit record lows in the Western world, largely thanks to increased use of contraceptives of all kinds. But strangely, we don’t really know what hormonal contraceptives – pills, patches and injections that contain synthetic sex hormones – are doing to the developing bodies and brains of teenage girls.

You’d be forgiven for assuming that we do. After all, the pill has been around for more than 50 years. It has been through many large trials assessing its effectiveness and safety, as have the more recent patches and rings, and the longer-lasting implants and injections.

But those studies were done…

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