New Study Finds a Surprising Link Between Birth Control Pills and Emotional Eating

Daily tracking points to a possible hormone-linked risk—and a simple way to reduce it.

For some women, using birth control pills comes with an unexpected side effect: stronger urges to overeat.

A new Michigan State University study of 422 women found that combined oral contraceptives may increase binge-eating symptoms for some users, especially emotional eating—eating in response to negative feelings. This doesn’t mean the pill causes binge eating in every woman. But doctors may need to ask more detailed questions about eating symptoms when prescribing one of the most common forms of hormonal birth control.

A Daily Look at the Pill

The study followed women ages 15 to 30 from the Michigan State University Twin Registry. All were already using monophasic combined oral contraceptives, meaning each active pill delivered a steady dose of synthetic estrogen and progestin.

Most packs contain 21 active hormone pills and seven inactive, hormone-free pills. The study’s structure gave researchers a built-in comparison: How did the same woman’s eating symptoms change when she took active pills versus inactive pills?

For 49 straight days, participants completed evening surveys. Researchers also checked in with them weekly and met with them twice during the study period.

The team focused on emotional eating, a behavior linked to binge eating. Binge eating involves eating a large amount of food in a short time while feeling a loss of control.

The participants reported significantly higher emotional eating while taking active hormone pills than while taking inactive pills. The pattern appeared across two pill cycles and also among 51 women with current or past clinically significant binge-eating histories. The researchers found no similar pattern for weight preoccupation, suggesting the effect was tied more closely to overeating than to body-image concerns.

Hormonal Issue

Earlier research has linked natural ovarian hormones to binge-eating risk. After ovulation, estrogen and progesterone both rise and this phase can come with higher food intake, stronger cravings, and more emotional eating.

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Combined oral contraceptives create a somewhat similar hormonal setting by delivering synthetic versions of estrogen and progesterone-like hormones.

The new study does not prove that birth control pills directly cause binge eating. It does, however, strengthen the case that hormone exposure may affect appetite, reward and eating behavior in some women.

“These findings are important for highlighting the potential negative impact of combined oral contraceptives in women,” Kelly Klump, the study’s lead author and an MSU Research Foundation distinguished professor of psychology, said in an MSU statement. “Nonetheless, it’s important to note that not every woman in the study developed binge eating—they are safe for many women, and it’s likely that the risk is targeted to those with other risk factors.”

The researchers controlled for negative mood, since emotional eating often follows distress. The active-pill effect remained, suggesting that mood alone did not explain the increase.

A Simple Tool Showed Promise

The study also produced a hopeful surprise. As the weeks went on, emotional eating declined among participants, even during active-pill days.

The authors suspect daily reporting acted as self-monitoring. In other words, the act of noticing and recording eating patterns may have helped some women change them by better managing their cravings.

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“We found that self-monitoring was an effective tool in mitigating risk for women in the study,” Klump added. “The more we can equip women with tools and educate medical providers about these risks, the more effective care can be given.”

The finding could give clinicians a practical step: ask patients about binge-eating history, warn those at higher risk to watch for changes, and consider daily tracking when symptoms appear.

Researchers did not measure hormone levels in blood or saliva. They studied only one type of pill, not biphasic, triphasic or progestin-only contraceptives. The study also had a narrow demographic profile: nearly 9 in 10 participants were White, so future research will need to test whether the findings hold across more diverse groups of women.

The study was published in the journal JAMA Network Open.