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Birth control pills have been known to cause mood swings, weight gain and nausea.

Now a new study claims there may be another troubling side effect to the drug; it could shrink your brain.

Neuroscientists have found that two key brain regions responsible for emotion and decision-making are thinner in people who take the Pill.

Birth control pills have been known to cause mood swings, weight gain and nausea. And now a new study claims there may be another troubling side effect of the drug; they could shrink your brain

Researchers at University of California, Los Angeles say the lateral orbitofrontal cortex and the posterior cigulate cortex can shrink in response to synthetic hormones found in the drug.

Artificial substances in the drug block natural hormones triggering changes in brain shape and function, according to the study in the journal Human Brain Mapping.

For the study, lead author, Nicole Petersen, recruited 90 women, with 44 women on combined birth control and 46 women who did not use any type of hormonal birth control.

Brain scans revealed the orbitofrontal cortex, responsible for decision-making, and posterior cigulate, which processes emotions, were smaller than average in those taking the Pill.

Neuroscientists claim that two key brain regions responsible for emotion and decision-making are thinner in people who take the Pill. The areas affected are the lateral orbitofrontal cortex (pink), responsible for decision making, and the posterior cigulate (light purple), which processes emotions

Researchers are still unsure whether this shrinkage is permanent, and are now planning further studies to find out.

The research was also unable to find out whether changes in cortex thickness were reflected in any actual changes in the behaviour of women who take the pill.

'Future studies will be needed to assess whether the effects reported here that did persist during the inactive OC week last for weeks, months, years, or permanently,' the authors wrote.

In a separate study last month, scientists found that taking the contraceptive Pill triples the risk of developing an incurable disease of the digestive system.

Researchers have found sex hormones in contraceptive Pills can weaken the gut, creating the perfect conditions for Crohn's to develop.

Doctors also fear that repeated use of the 'morning-after pill' – which contains even higher doses of sex hormones than the daily tablet – might make women still more prone to it.

Dr Hamed Khalili, a Harvard gastroenterologist, said Crohn's cases had risen 'two or three-fold' in the past 50 years, since widespread use of the Pill began.