Wheezing? Allergies? Could be that pain killer
It’s a safe bet that most e-Tips and Nutrition & Healing readers have long since said “no” to OTC medicines like acetaminophen — there are just too many risks associated. But there are plenty of people out there who still down the stuff like candy — and give it to their kids. Could this be enough to get them to stop?
By now, I would bet good money that most of us have said “no more” to acetaminophen — I know I’ve seen a few too many stories about how bad the stuff is.
But I’m pretty certain we all know plenty of people who don’t think anything of popping a couple of Tylenol at the first sign of pain…or of handing it out to their kids without a second thought.
Well, here’s a second thought for them.
New research published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine links teen acetaminophen use to increased risk of developing both asthma and eczema.
In fact, it could more than double the risk of developing asthma in teenagers.
And we’re not talking about an acetaminophen a day. Researchers found that even MONTHLY use is linked to that doubled risk.
This isn’t the first time I’ve alerted you to the link between acetaminophen and asthma (“Urgent warning for pregnant women,” 2/25/2010). Then, it was about the risk for pregnant women — it was found that taking acetaminophen during pregnancy could lead to a higher risk for asthma in children by the time they’re five.
The current, study, however, concerns acetaminophen use in the children themselves. Researchers looked at use in 13- and 14-year-old kids. “Medium” users — and mind you, that was classified as just once in the past YEAR — had a 43 percent higher risk of asthma than kids who had never taken it. “High” users — those who had taken it at least once in the last month — had a risk 2.51 times higher than non-users.
Similar results were found for allergies in the teens, and the risks for eczema were 31 percent higher in medium users over non-users, and 99 percent higher in high users than non-users.
This study isn’t actually the first to link acetaminophen to asthma — in fact there was a study in Ethiopia that showed that it’s possible that the acetaminophen itself causes the increased risk.
Scientists think the risk has something to do with the systemic inflammatory effect caused by acetaminophen — this could cause oxygen stress and lead to an allergic immune response. It’s also thought that acetaminophen may suppress the immune response to infections which can lead to asthma.
So, do you think this might be enough to get those stragglers to ditch the painkillers already?
Source:
“Acetaminophen Use in Adolescents Linked to Doubled Risk of Asthma,” Science Daily (www.sciencedaily.com)
