June 17, 2026

expert reaction to study looking at the combined contraceptive pill and binge eating

A study published in JAMA Network Open looks at use of the combined oral contraceptive pill and binge eating. 

Rachel Richardson, Methods Support Unit Manager, The Cochrane Collaboration, said:

“The authors of this study conclude that there is an association between combined oral contraceptives (COCs) and emotional eating (EE).  However, there are several key limitations in the design of the study and the reporting of the results.  The small number of self-selected participants in the study limits its generalisability.

“The authors measured emotional eating in young women over a period of 49 days which included periods in which they were taking ‘active’ pills (containing hormones) and ‘inactive’ or placebo pills.  However, there was no ‘washout’ time between these two periods which means that effects from the ‘active’ period likely carried over into the ‘inactive’ period.  This means that differences shown may be biased.  A second major limitation is that the study was not blinded: the women knew when they taking ‘active’ or ‘inactive’ pills and we know that a lack of blinding can influence self-reported outcomes (such as emotional eating).

“The authors report that ‘significant within-person increases in EE were observed in the full sample during active hormone vs inactive pills in both cycles (cycle 1: β = 0.11 [95%CI, 0.06 to 0.16]; cycle 2: β = 0.07 [95%CI, 0.04 to 0.10])’.  This is an example where a statistically significant finding may mean very little clinically.  A beta of 0.11 or 0.07 is a relatively small effect and the confidence intervals (the margins of error) mean that that the potential effects could be negligible – as low as a beta of 0.06 or 0.04).

“A final major limitation of this study is the sample.  This is a small sample of young women (average age around 22) who all come from the Michigan State University Twin Registry.  Participation was voluntary and so it is likely that women in the sample had a strong interest in eating disorders which may also mean that self-reported outcomes are subject to bias.”

‘Combined Oral Contraceptive Use and Binge Eating’ by Kelly L. Klump et al. was published in JAMA Network Open at 16:00 UK time on Wednesday 17 June 2026. 

DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.19047

Declared interests

Rachel Richardson: “No interests to declare.”