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Now let's head to the show. Hi everyone. Today I spoke with Dr. Sarah Gottfried on what is the safest

form of birth control. And I'll give you kind of the summary here. The copper IUD is the best all-around

consideration. And there are some notable side effects and

risk factors for oral or hormonal contraception more of your classical birth control or pill

may increase risk of blood clotting mood and balances crone's disease's disease, fungal overgrowth, problems with thyroid hormone,

problems with libido and clitoral stimulation and also vaginal moisture as an indirect result

of the impact on what's known as sex hormone binding globulin and how that

impacts free testosterone. But maybe justifiable in some cases. And so she gives us a very well-reasoned

and rational overview. However, it does seem that the copper IUD is the clearer winner in

this comparison. And unfortunately, the much more prevalent

oral contraception does carry some significant risks, which she feels women are not really made

aware of when embarking on hormonal birth control. So this was a very enlightening conversation. We discussed a few

other options, a few nuances regarding methods for contraception. And we also discuss the impact,

not that this was the main thrust of the conversation, but the impact of the gut on female

hormones and also how women who are kind of in the perimenopausal, menopausal transition

are oftentimes offered birth control as a way of stabilizing their hormones, although

...