Reasons to avoid birth control pills or any type of oral contraceptive as they cause nutritional deficiencies and destroy the microbiome for those that take it and their future children.
Since the introduction of oral contraceptives in the early 1960s, use of “the Pill”, as it is generally known, has soared to approximately 7 in 10 women of childbearing age.
Among young women ages 18-24, oral contraceptive use is especially high, reaching two-thirds in 2008.
The widespread use of The Pill is a troubling issue because oral contraceptives devastate beneficial bacterial flora in the gut.
This leaves those who use it vulnerable to colonization and dominance from pathogenic strains such as Candida albicans, Streptococci, and Staphylococci among others.
By the time a woman who has used birth control pills is ready to have children, a severe case of intractable gut dysbiosis has more than likely taken hold.
Most people think that only the use of drugs such as antibiotics causes gut imbalances, but this is simply not true.
According, to Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD, many other drugs such as the Pill also cause severe gut dysbiosis.
What’s worse, a drug-induced gut imbalance is especially resistant to treatment either with probiotics or diet change.
What does this mean for your future child’s health?
A lot, as it turns out!
The Pill Causes Nutritional Deficiencies
First of all, gut imbalance brought on through the use of The Pill negatively impacts the ability to digest food and absorb nutrients.
As a result, even if a woman eats spectacularly well during pregnancy, she can experience nutritional deficiencies.
If she has been taking oral contraceptives for a long period of time, it is highly likely that she and her baby are not reaping the full benefits of the healthy food she is eating.
The lack of beneficial flora in her gut prevents this from occurring.
In addition, beneficial bacteria actively synthesize nutrients, especially B vitamins, Vitamin K1, amino acids, and other nutrients.
In an imbalanced gut, a woman is missing out on the “natural supplementation” that these good strains provide to her and her growing baby.
Not well known is the fact that using the Pill depletes zinc in the body.
Zinc is called “the intelligence mineral” as it is intimately involved in mental development.
As a result, it is very important for women who have been using the Pill for any length of time to wait at least 6 months before becoming pregnant to ensure that zinc levels return to normal.
Low zinc is associated with lowered IQ and birth defects.
If you are concerned that your levels might be low, try this easy at-home zinc deficiency test to give you peace of mind.
It really is quite disturbing to fully realize the very real potential that the use of The Pill has to trigger nutritional deficiencies!
Pathogenic Gut Flora from Birth Control Pills
Pathogenic, opportunistic microbes that take hold in the gut when The Pill is used constantly produce toxic substances.
They are the poisonous by-products of their metabolism.
These toxins leak into the woman’s bloodstream and guess what, they have the potential to cross the placenta!
Therefore, gut dysbiosis exposes the fetus to toxins even if the woman never eats anything but organic foods and lives in an environment with no pollutants.
Indeed, an imbalanced gut has the potential to expose a woman and her baby to just as many or even more toxins than her environment through self-poisoning!
Gut Dysbiosis and Anemia Go Hand in Hand
Most people with abnormal gut flora also suffer from various stages of anemia.
This is because some of the most common pathogenic strains of bacteria that take hold in an imbalanced gut are those that consume iron:
- Actinomyces spp.
- Mycobacterium spp.
- Pathogenic strains of E.Coli
- Corynebacterium spp. and others.
Anemia during pregnancy is especially dangerous.
Not only can it deprive the fetus of oxygen (iron helps build red blood cells and red blood cells carry oxygen), but it is linked to low birth weight and pre-term birth.
Can iron supplements during pregnancy combat this problem?
In a word, no!
How many women do you know who consistently battle low iron during pregnancy despite consuming iron supplements and eating iron-rich foods?
I personally know many such cases.
The reason is that the more iron a patient with gut dysbiosis consumes in either food or supplement form, the stronger these pathogenic, iron-loving strains become!
The extra iron “feeds” them, so to speak, much the same as sugar feeds Candida albicans.
The cure for gut dysbiotic anemia is to heal and seal the gut, not take iron supplements with low bioavailability!
Baby “Inherits” Mom’s Microbiome (for better or for worse)
A human baby is born with a sterile gut.
This means that there is no bacterial activity in a fetus’ digestive system prior to birth.
The vast majority of gut flora that a child eventually develops is inherited from Mom.
This occurs via the baby swallowing microbes during vaginal birth. These microbes can be either good or bad!
If Mom has a gut imbalance, it will be the same situation in her vagina. Hence, her children’s intestines will be seeded with the same microbes during delivery.
Babies born via Cesarean section are at risk for even more unbalanced gut flora as their guts are seeded with whatever microbes are floating around the hospital at the time (which is why it is so imperative for a baby born via C-section to be breastfed IMMEDIATELY!).
Children with imbalanced gut flora are particularly predisposed to autoimmune disorders in the form of allergies, asthma, and eczema.
In more severe cases of gut dysbiosis, learning disabilities manifest such as ADHD, ADD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and others.
Of course, there is sometimes an environmental “trigger” which instigates these disorders.
But, it is crucial to keep in mind that gut dysbiosis is the primary underlying cause.
Think Twice Before Taking Birth Control Pills
When considering whether or not to take oral contraceptives, women rarely if ever consider the long-term implications to themselves let alone their children.
This is no surprise given that doctors rarely if ever mention this sort of thing when prescribing antibiotics let alone The Pill to their patients!
Therefore, it is vital that women be fully informed of the potentially devastating consequences to their health and that of their children (and potentially grandchildren) from birth control pills.
And Moms…do NOT let a pediatrician put your young daughter on oral contraceptives to control monthly menstrual discomfort! Fix her diet instead for a real solution to the problem instead of the band-aid approach favored by prescribing physicians.
References
March of Dimes, pregnancy complications
Mineral Primer
Gut and Psychology Syndrome, Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD
More Information
170 Scientific Studies Confirm the Dangers of Soy
Why Even Organic Soy Formula is so Dangerous for Babies
The Dangers of Estrogenic Foods, Herbs, and Drugs
Interesting. I had candida and was always anaemic and had horrible menstrual cramps. After I took antifungals, the anaemia and cramps went away just like that.
As I couldn’t take the pill oraly the gave me injections twice a year, Depoprevera, all in all about for about ten years.
Can that be the source of my gutproblems now, some 20 years later?
Oh!! Thanks to share your experience with us. We should be take precaution before using .
I don’t see any references for the claims in this article? what are the sources?
The GAPS book by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD.
Good grief….I will be sure to tell my future grandchildren that the reason they are screwed up is because I took the Pill 50 years before they were born. You could make a health hazard out of ANYTHING…how the heck are we supposed to exist and not be exposed to some sort of harm?? Totally unrealistic.
Thank you for this article. I have a theory… I was told by both my childbirth educator and midwife that when a woman is pregnant, the gut slows downs to try to get as much nutrition out of her food as possible. Now in school I was taught that the Pill “tricks” the body into thinking that there is a pregnancy. So I’m wondering if someone on the Pill goes through a gut slow down each month, over and over and over, thus leading to IBS, constipation, and the other “side effects.” It makes me wonder if the Pill isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. (P.S. I’ve never been on the Pill myself and have two children who were born at home.)
Did your children come out healthy by any chance? Right now, I have the pills but I don’t know if I want to take them because I want my children to come out healthy