News / National
Morning after pill horror for obese women
09 Aug 2024 at 07:57hrs | Views
THE morning-after pill may not work for overweight or obese women as its effectiveness is affected by body mass index, a medical practitioner has said.
Body mass index (BMI) is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to adult men and women.
According to reports, the Centre for Women's Health, a group of researchers in the United Kingdom conducted a study about access to emergency contraception and they uncovered that the emergency contraception pill seemed less likely to work on women with a body mass index above 26.
Dr Misheck Ruwende, a local medical practitioner, also weighed in saying that studies have uncovered that the morning-after pill in overweight women is less effective.
"The studies have shown that when one has a body mass index of above 30, the amount of morning-after pill in their blood is less as compared to the one with a body mass index of less than 25.
"This factor could be the reason why the pill is not very effective on obese women, but, this does not mean that doubling the dose does not translate to higher effectiveness. It could be something that we need to investigate," said Dr Ruwende.
Dr Ruwende highlighted that there were other contraceptives that were effective and safer that could be used by women who are overweight.
"There are several contraceptives that can be used by women like the copper-bearing intrauterine device that can be used within 120 hours of unprotected sex and the loop. In regards to the safest contraceptives, these two are effective as they do not promote weight gain and can be removed when one wants to have a baby," said Dr Ruwende.
Dr Ruwende indicated that the myth that taking morning-after pills leads to infertility was baseless.
"The myth that morning-after pills cause infertility is not true, the pill does not promote barrenness, it only works as a contraceptive," he said.
He added that there was a need for people to practice healthy lifestyles as this has great health benefits.
"The issue of obesity is caused by our lifestyle, people need to work on reducing weight by eating vegetables, reducing their intake of processed food, drinking water, and reducing their intake of starch," he said.
Body mass index (BMI) is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to adult men and women.
According to reports, the Centre for Women's Health, a group of researchers in the United Kingdom conducted a study about access to emergency contraception and they uncovered that the emergency contraception pill seemed less likely to work on women with a body mass index above 26.
Dr Misheck Ruwende, a local medical practitioner, also weighed in saying that studies have uncovered that the morning-after pill in overweight women is less effective.
"The studies have shown that when one has a body mass index of above 30, the amount of morning-after pill in their blood is less as compared to the one with a body mass index of less than 25.
"This factor could be the reason why the pill is not very effective on obese women, but, this does not mean that doubling the dose does not translate to higher effectiveness. It could be something that we need to investigate," said Dr Ruwende.
Dr Ruwende highlighted that there were other contraceptives that were effective and safer that could be used by women who are overweight.
"There are several contraceptives that can be used by women like the copper-bearing intrauterine device that can be used within 120 hours of unprotected sex and the loop. In regards to the safest contraceptives, these two are effective as they do not promote weight gain and can be removed when one wants to have a baby," said Dr Ruwende.
Dr Ruwende indicated that the myth that taking morning-after pills leads to infertility was baseless.
"The myth that morning-after pills cause infertility is not true, the pill does not promote barrenness, it only works as a contraceptive," he said.
He added that there was a need for people to practice healthy lifestyles as this has great health benefits.
"The issue of obesity is caused by our lifestyle, people need to work on reducing weight by eating vegetables, reducing their intake of processed food, drinking water, and reducing their intake of starch," he said.
Source - Bmetro
