Carbohydrate metabolism during treatment with estrogen, progestogen, and low-dose oral contraceptives.

The combination oral contraceptives have generally been shown to have an adverse effect on carbohydrate metabolism with resultant elevations of both blood glucose and insulin in users. Studies of the individual steroid components suggest that the estrogen is not at fault. The 19-norprogestins can produce these carbohydrate changes and seen to act at the insulin receptor level. Norgestrel, ethynodiol diacetate, and norethindrone alter carbohydrate metabolism, but norgestrel produces the most marked changes. Use of oral contraceptives containing less than 50 microgram of estrogen resulted in fewer metabolic changes than were seen with the drugs containing higher doses of estrogen.