8 Foods and Supplements to Avoid While Taking Birth Control Pills

When taken correctly, birth control pills are a super-effective way to prevent pregnancy. However, a few foods, drinks, and supplements can affect how well the pill works or increase unwanted side effects.

A few of these you must avoid include:

Activated charcoal

It is a potent compound mostly found in supplements that work to eradicate gas and bloating and help in detoxifying, apart from lowering cholesterol levels. Activated charcoal binds or attaches to substances in your digestive tract, along with attaching to medications, which include birth control pills, and stops them from being absorbed properly. It is also risky if you take charcoal around the time of taking the pill.

Grapefruit and its juice

Grapefruit and its juice affect enzymes in your liver that are part of the cytochrome P450 system, which helps process estrogen. It causes estrogen levels from your birth control pills to rise higher than intended. While it usually does not reduce pregnancy protection, it increases side effects like nausea, headaches, and breast tenderness.

Alcohol

While doctors say alcohol may not cancel birth control pills or reduce their effectiveness, it still causes issues. Drinking too much makes it easier to forget a pill or vomit shortly after taking one. Alcohol also increases the risk of nausea or dizziness, which is generally a side effect of taking pills.

Flaxseed supplements

While flaxseeds are super nutritious, their supplements are packed with phytoestrogens known as lignans, which imitate the estrogen in your body and in your birth control pills. These compounds compete with your pills for estrogen receptors, potentially making your birth control less effective.

Vitamin C in high doses

Extremely high doses of vitamin C can spike estrogen levels in your blood, which causes side effects like nausea, bloating, or headaches. Doctors say normal dietary vitamin C intake through fruits and vegetables is fine, but you must be wary of supplements.

Weight loss medication

Weight-loss medication and supplements are packed with herbs and ingredients that affect digestion or liver enzymes. These products not only reduce hormone absorption but speed up hormone breakdown as well. A few beverages, like green tea, can possibly interact with the medicines due to the cytochrome P450 system, the liver enzymes responsible for metabolizing drugs.

Garlic supplements

Garlic supplements are sometimes used to support heart health and immunity. In high doses, garlic can affect the cytochrome P450 system, particularly one enzyme called cytochrome 2C9, a liver enzyme that helps process medications, including birth control hormones.

St John’s Wort

St John’s Wort is an herbal supplement that is used for enhancing mood and mental health. However, if taken along with birth control pills. It can speed up how the liver breaks down hormones found in birth control pills. When this happens, hormone levels can drop to levels that are too low to prevent pregnancy. If you take St John’s Wort along with birth control pills. You would notice bleeding, which means the pill is not working well.