Birth control medications often cause weight gain, but a new study has shown that a woman’s genetic makeup plays a role.
The researchers looked at 276 women who had used etonogestrel contraceptive implant and found an average of 3.2 kg weight gained over an average of 27 months of use. The team then probed further to see whether genes carried by the women made a difference.
They found that women who had two copies of a particular gene (ESR1 rs9340799) gained a lot more weight while using the contraceptive implant when compared to other women in the study.
The medical world is buzzing with what is called “Personalized Medicine” in which treatments are better tailored to patients. The results of this study suggest that healthcare providers may one day use genetic information to individualize counseling and treatment to women seeking birth control.
Read more here – https://news.cuanschutz.edu/news-stories/genes-may-play-role-in-weight-gain-from-birth-control
