Study: Hormone Progestin Cuts Risk of Ovarian Cancer
REA BLAKEY, CNN ANCHOR: Also this new year, reducing the risk of ovarian cancer. A study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute finds that women who take birth control with the hormone progestin are 30-50 percent less likely to develop the often fatal ovarian cancer -- Marty.</s>MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: I read that study, and it's very interesting, but I was somewhat surprised, because I thought researchers had somewhat implied that the very things that birth control were designed to impede, ovulation, pregnancy, all of that, was supposed to be reduce your chance for cancer.</s>BLAKEY: There is truth to that. But what the researchers at Duke University's cancer center found was that by reviewing data on women who had taken birth control pills 20 years ago, they found that those who were taking pills with higher formulations of progestin had better protection from ovarian cancer, and more risk reduction than pregnancy and/or breast feeding. But there are two important details that we should mention, Marty, that need to be mentioned. Today's birth control pills contain less progestin than the pill did 20 years ago, and that's because of side effects. Higher levels of progestin are also associated with increased risk of breast cancer, so it's not a panacea, but it is an opportunity for researchers to look into another possibility for possibly protecting more and more women from ovarian cancer.</s>SAVIDGE: The information very eye opening. Rea Blakey, thank you so much for joining us this morning.