A new paper has correlated birth control pills to binge eating. In 100 percent of controlled clinical studies, more energy consumed than burned causes weight increase, which means birth control pills may be why you got fat.
Don't go having unprotected sex as a diet plan, though. These are longitudinal surveys and, even less rigorous, a within-person design, so individuals acted as their own comparison and self-reported things like emotional eating. Surveys have no scientific validity which means they are even below mouse studies in the EXPLORATORY pile. About 85 percent of women in wealthy countries use oral contraceptives, which is why trial lawyers have long targeted them. From claims about cancer in mice to exaggerated "endocrine disruptor" epidemiological jargon, to-date birth control pills remain scientifically safe. But emotional binge eating "risk" is impossible to disprove.
That qualifier stated up-front, the paper is interesting because of the length. The pool of food diary participants was 422 women in the Michigan State University Twin Registry and the covered period was 49 days, which means two cycles of monophasic combined oral contraceptives, which lead to increased estrogen and progesterone. The reported increases in emotional binge eating were replicated across two pill cycles but also in women who had been diagnosed with binge eating disorders. There was no link to weight preoccupation.
Associations Between Combined Oral Contraceptives Pill Type and Emotional Eating, Weight Preoccupation, and Negative Affect in the Full Sample of Women and Women With Clinically Defined Bing Eating Episodes
Citation: Kelly L. Klump, PhD; Alaina M. Di Dio, BA; Carolina Anaya, MA; Megan E. Mikhail, PhD; S. Alexandra Burt, PhD; Cheryl L. Sisk, PhD; Pamela K. Keel, PhD; Debra K. Katzman, MD; Michael Neale, PhD; Lindsay S. Ackerman, MA; Shaunna L. Clark, PhD; Kristen M. Culbert, PhD, 'Combined Oral Contraceptive Use and Binge Eating'. JAMA Netw Open. 2026;9(6):e2619047. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.19047
