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Millions of women use hormonal birth control pills every day. Although widely promoted as safe, the hormones in these pills, even at very low levels, can have disastrous health consequences. Blood clots, stroke and heart attacks are some of the disastrous results that have been reported.

Few people know that the pill affects a woman's ability to use a number of vitamins and minerals. Low blood levels often occur in women who are on the pill, which may increase the need for these nutrients. Among the nutrients studied, vitamin B-6, folate, iron and zinc seem to be greatly affected. In some cases, a supplement may be needed to restore the levels of these nutrients to normal levels. Yet, few, if any doctors advise women about this potential problem. They, themselves may not even be aware that this could occur.

Some women also gain a great deal of weight while on the pill and other forms of hormonal contraceptives. Some of this weight may be due to water retention, while some is stubborn weight gain due to changes in energy metabolism. Obviously, a change in diet and exercise may be needed to counteract this effect. But, again, few, if any, women are advised accordingly.

In light of these findings, every woman on the pill should have a nutrition assessment, and annual monitoring for blood levels of those nutrients known to be affected by the pill. Nutrition counseling should also be a part of routine health care for women on the pill. This is especially true, since these women are of childbearing age and may later choose to have children and need to be in the best possible nutritional health prior to conception.

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