Written by admin on 2009-04-20T12:31:45+0000">April 20, 2009 – 12:31 pm
Oral contraceptive tablets – the Pill – have been in widespread use since the 1960s. Some doctors believe that die high incidence of food intolerance in women is related to this, and there are individual case-histories that link the onset of food intolerance with starting the Pill. Unfortunately, there are no studies to show if this reaction is common. One of the difficulties with the Pill is that its ill-effects are usually very much delayed – and even after stopping the Pill there may be lingering effects for months or even years. So the link with the symptoms may be far from obvious.
There are various ways in which the Pill might lead to food intolerance. It appears to have an effect on certain detoxification enzymes in the liver, and this could make women more susceptible to toxins in food, as well as to environmental chemicals. The Pill also seems to affect vitamin and mineral status (see p260) and some nutritional deficiencies may make food intolerance more likely. In the case of migraine, the hormones in the Pill have a direct action on the blood vessels, and are well known as a cause of migraine.
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