New research from the Harvard School of Public Health shows that women who take oral contraceptives may be lowering their short-term risk of developing multiple sclerosis.

The study, published in Archives of Neurology, reports that the incidence of MS was 40 percent lower in those taking oral contraceptives compared to those who weren’t.

Researchers compared 106 women who had a new diagnosis of MS between January 1993 and December 2000 with 1,001 other women without MS. Information was taken from the British General Practice Research Database.

Women were also found to have a lower risk of MS during pregnancy, but a higher risk in the six months after having a baby - compared to those who were not pregnant.

Multiple Sclerosis, an autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system, affects women twice as much as it affects men.