A study spanning generations found that birth control pills may protect women against more than just unplanned pregnancies. They may decrease cancer rates as well.

Researchers from Sctoland's University of Aberdeen, after four decades of data collection, have found women who used birth control pills are more protected from cancers for 30 years or more. Data from 46,000 women collected over 44 years suggest rates of colorectal, endometrial and ovarian cancer rates were significantly lowered by those who also took birth control.

“Because the study has been going for such a long time we are able to look at the very long term effects, if there are any, associated with the pill," said Lisa Iversen, PhD, MSc, Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen's Institute of Applied Health Sciences, in a release. “What we found from looking at up to 44 years of data was that having ever used the pill women are less likely to get colorectal, endometrial and ovarian cancer.”

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