Oral contraceptives and nutritional status in adolescent British girls

Associations between oral contraceptive pill (OC) use and vitamin, mineral and lipid status were examined in 117 postmenarcheal 16-to-18-year-old British girls, from the 1997 National Diet and Nutrition Survey of young people aged 4 to 18 years. Thirty-nine were taking OCs at the time of blood, anthropometric and sociodemographic assessment, while seventy-eight were not. After adjusting for age, body mass index and smoking, OC use was significantly associated (P<0.05) with higher plasma retinol, 25-hydroxyvitamin D, total iron-binding capacity, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and triacylglycerol concentrations. OC users also had lower concentrations of plasma beta-carotene, gamma-tocopherol and HDL-cholesterol, and serum vitamin B-12. Nutritional status indices that did not differ with OC use included plasma concentrations of vitamin C, alpha-tocopherol, pyridoxal phosphate, all-but-one iron status indices and zinc. In light of the observed associations, OC use should be taken into account when assessing nutritional status in adolescent girls of childbearing age. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.