The oral contraceptive pill does not influence muscle protein synthesis ✅
Great news for female athletes.
Oral contraceptive pill phase does not influence muscle protein synthesis or myofibrillar proteolysis at rest or in response to resistance exercise
Background
It is speculated that female athletes should avoid using oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) as this may impact muscle protein metabolism ⚠️
But are these changes to OCP use warranted? 🧐
Study Details
This new study recruited 12 female participants who completed 2 x 6-day study phases 🗓️
1️⃣ Active pill phase (week 2 of OCP cycle)
2️⃣ Inactive pill phase (final week of OCP cycle)
Single leg resistance-exercise sessions were completed during each phase to establish differences in muscle protein synthesis at rest and post-exercise 🦵
Key Findings
Muscle protein synthesis rates were significantly higher in the exercised leg vs the rested leg in both phases 📈
BUT there were no differences between phases ✅
There were also no differences between phases for whole-body myofibrillar protein breakdown ✅
Conclusion
Skeletal muscle is equally as responsive during inactive and active OCP phases 💪
OCP use does not appear to be pro-anabolic or catabolic ❌
Female athletes DO NOT need to worry about OCP use in relation to skeletal muscle responses to resistance-training 🙌