According to a new research, women taking contraceptive pills have a 50 per cent higher overall risk of developing breast cancer.

For many years, many women have and continue to use contraceptive pills to control birth but it has emerged that some of the pills with high levels of oestrogen can raise the risk threefold, compared with that of women who have never taken the Pill or who have stopped using it.

Dr Elisabeth Beaber of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, which carried out the study, mentioned that the research indicates the use of contemporary oral contraceptives in the past year was associated with an increased breast cancer risk ‘relative to never or former oral contraceptive use. This risk may vary by oral contraceptive formulation’.

Though she stated that ‘Our results require confirmation and should be interpreted cautiously’, this is something we should all take note.