'Pill' Hormone Linked to Lower Ovarian Cancer Risk [01/02/2002; Reuters Health] NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Evidence suggests that women who use birth control pills have a decreased risk of ovarian cancer. Now new research has zeroed in on the hormone progestin as the reason why. In a review of data from a large US study from the early 1980s, investigators found that women who used combination oral contraceptives--which contain both estrogen and progestin--had a lower risk of ovarian cancer than non-users. And birth control pill combinations that carried the highest progestin potency also carried the lowest ovarian cancer risk. Progestin is a synthetic version of the female hormone progesterone.Dr. Joellen M. Schildkraut of Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, led the study. The findings are published in the January 2nd issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (news - web sites). According to the researchers, their findings are in line with new Duke research in macaque monkeys showing that animals given progestin had heightened rates of cell death and turnover in the lining of the ovaries. An acceleration in this process may make it more likely that abnormal cells are pushed to commit suicide, thereby reducing cancer risk. Schildkraut's team reviewed data on 390 women with ovarian cancer and close to 3,000 healthy women, all between the ages of 20 and 54. Women who had used birth control pills for at least 3 months were compared with non-users, and users were evaluated according to whether their pill combinations had high or low levels of estrogen and progestin. The investigators found that women on low-potency progestin were twice as likely as those on high levels of the hormone to develop ovarian cancer. Overall, pill users were less likely than non-users to develop the disease. The lower risk was seen even among women who used pill combinations for only a few months. Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.