Effect of oral contraceptive agents on nutrients: II. Vitamins

Abstract

Clinical, biochemical and nutritional data were collected from a large population of women using oral contraceptive agents. Higher incidence of abnormal clinical signs related to malnutrition were observed in the lower (B) as compared to the higher (A) socioeconomic groups, and also in the nonsupplemented groups as compared to the supplemented groups in the B subjects. As a rule the intake of oral contraceptive agent subjects of vitamin A, C, B6 and folic acid did not differ from that of the controls As expected, subjects from the supplemented groups had higher intake of vitamin A, C, B6, thiamin, riboflavin and folic acid, and A groups had higher intake of vitamin C, B6, riboflavin and folic acid. Increased plasma vitamin A and decreased carotene levels were observed in oral contraceptive agent users. In general oral contraceptive agents had little or no effect on plasma ascorbic acid. Urinary excretion of both thiamin and riboflavin in subjects using oral contraceptive agents were lower in A groups. Erythrocyte folate and plasma pyridoxal phosphate was decreased in A groups due to oral contraceptive agents. Subjects who took supplements had higher levels of plasma vitamin A, ascorbic acid and folate. But urinary thiamin and riboflavin were higher only in group A subjects who took supplements.

Use of oral contraceptives and serum beta-carotene

“…Our ®ndings con®rm those of older studies except for one (Briggs et al, 1972) which assessed associations of OC use with beta-carotene levels in bivariate analyses (Prasad et al, 1975;Horwitt et al, 1975;Yeung, 1976;Arab et al, 1982). Another more recent bivariate analysis (Palan et al, 1989) also found a signi®cantly lower beta-carotene serum concentration in current OC users as well an additive effect of OC use and smoking.…”

“…In former studies (Prasad et al, 1975;Horwitt et al, 1975;Yeung, 1976), the substantial increase of retinol under OC use is put forward as an explanation. The increase might probably be due to an activation of the production of the retinol binding protein (Mooij et al, 1991), thus possibly increasing the conversion of beta-carotene into retinol.…”

“…Although the ®rst study from Briggs et al, (1972) did not ®nd any association between serum beta-carotene and OC use, four studies found decreased levels of serum betacarotene among OC users in bivariate analyses (Prasad et al, 1975;Horwitt et al, 1975;Yeung, 1976;Arab et al, 1982). In a more recent bivariate analysis, Palan and colleagues (1989) observed additive effects of OC use and smoking on the reduction of serum beta-carotene levels.…”

Vitamin and mineral needs during the oral contraceptive therapy: a systematic review

“…Even nutritional experts' opinions differ in the interpretation of the biochemical results and the uncontrolled administration of dietary supplements to OC users makes comprehension of the effects on the women's health more difficult. 7,8 The present systematic review aims at providing a comprehensive view of the literature evidence about the changes of nutritional needs in women who use OCs.…”

Effect of Estrogen (Estinyl) on Ascorbic Acid Metabolism

“…An appreciable amount of scientific attention has been focused on the quantitative changes produced in the nutritional-metabolic profile of oral contraceptive users [1,2]. Much attention has been directed toward the study of changes in biochemical processes that may affect the nutritional status of the individual, with particular reference to ascorbic acid.…”