Pill slashes cancer risk

WOMEN who take the pill while young are at lower risk of ovarian, womb and bowel cancer three decades later, landmark research has found.

The study of 46,000 women concluded the protective benefits lasted for 35 years after they stopped taking the oral contraceptive pill.

The British women in the University of Aberdeen study took the drug for 3½ years on average when they were in their 20s and 30s.

But the protection from cancer lasted until their 50s, 60s and 70s – when they would be at the greatest risk.