A research study has shown that women taking the contraceptive pill may have a lower muscle response to resistance exercise than those not taking the pill. The results were reported at the American Physiological Society meeting as part of the Experimental Biology 2009 scientific conference in New Orleans.
Chang-Woock Lee, from Texas A&M University, studied 73 healthy women between 18 and 31 years old who did resistance exercises 3 times a week for 10 weeks. Thirty-four of the women used oral contraceptives and 39 did not. The women were encouraged to eat enough protein to stimulate muscle growth.
Lean muscle increased by 2.1 percent in oral contraceptive users compared with 3.5 percent in non-users. Tests on the women also showed that in contraceptive users, blood levels of three muscle-building hormones, DHEA, DHEAS, and IGF, were lower, and cortisol, a muscle degrading hormone, was higher.
The difference in absolute terms is not great, but over a longer period could be more substantial. Obviously, the individual benefits of this form of contraception need to be balanced against any enhanced weight training results.
