Decades of Research Confirms: Popular OTC Drug Linked to Harm in Developing Babies

AHA Publisher — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 07:00:45 +0000

Karen Sanders via NaturalHealth365 – Is taking acetaminophen (brand name Tylenol®) during pregnancy harmful to developing babies? A growing scientific consensus says yes. Unfortunately, this growing consensus is not based on “new” data. In fact, the call for “precautionary action” is based on at least 25 years of scientific data involving thousands of mothers and children. Household Painkiller Taken During Pregnancy Harms Developing Fetus in MULTIPLE Ways, Growing Research Shows Acetaminophen (also called APAP, or paracetamol outside the United States) is in the spotlight thanks to a consensus statement published in Nature Reviews Endocrinology. The September 23, 2021, statement, endorsed by an international team of 91 scientists, public health experts, and medical doctors, states that pregnant women should “forego [acetaminophen] unless its use is medically indicated.” One possible medical indication would be fever reduction, as maternal fever is a known cause of neural tube defects. However, research indicates the majority of pregnant women who take acetaminophen are doing because of things like headaches and back pain – not fever. The question is: Do pregnant women (and their healthcare providers) truly understand the possible risks associated with this common over-the-counter drug? Just looking at the drug insert for acetaminophen should be a reason to pause, where it admits that it “is not known whether acetaminophen can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman.” It’s known now, however. In a statement to CNN, Dr. Shanna Swan, co-author of the consensus paper and professor of environmental medicine and public health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, says there’s a “significant body of evidence that suggests that [acetaminophen] disrupts the reproductive development of animals and humans.” This includes evidence showing that acetaminophen use in pregnancy increases the risk of undescended testicles in male offspring, which is associated with decreased fertility and sperm count later in life. In their consensus statement, the global team of researchers points to years of concerning data, including 29 observational studies including more than 220,000 mother-child pairs showing adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. It’s not clear yet how acetaminophen can damage developing babies, but the drug is known as an endocrine disruptor. (Two other popular pain relievers, aspirin, and ibuprofen are already linked to birth defects.) Of course, acetaminophen is no stranger to adverse health effects. It remains the leading cause of drug-induced acute liver failure in the United States and is a leading cause of emergency department visits and hospitalizations. The negative impact of acetaminophen isn’t limited to fetuses only. Ten years ago, Reuters reported on a study from The Journal of Urology which found that men who regularly used over-the-counter painkillers like Tylenol were almost 40% more likely to suffer from impotence. Why Would Officials Rush to Expose Pregnant Women and Young Children to New Injections? You might wonder: why now? Why, after years of support from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and other organizations, is acetaminophen during pregnancy coming under fire? Dr. Swan puts it simply: the growing accumulation of data over time. “As time progresses,” she states, “stronger and stronger evidence suggests that we’ve only been underestimating risk [of maternal acetaminophen use.]” This is an important statement, especially in the context of brand-new mRNA injections currently being pushed on pregnant women and children – despite the complete lack of long-term safety data. Is the potential benefit of these drugs truly work the known and unknown risks? Should pregnant, nursing, and trying to conceive women truly have to choose between taking these drugs or else lose their jobs and lose access to public spaces? Is this ethical? Sources for this article include: CNN.com Nature.com NIH.gov Medlineplus.gov Statnews.com Reuters.com AAFP.org FDA.gov NIH.gov To read the original article click here.

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Opioid Dependence Found to Permanently Change Brains of Rats

AHA Publisher — Fri, 07 Feb 2020 08:00:56 +0000

University of California San Diego Health via Newswise – Approximately one-quarter of patients who are prescribed opioids for chronic pain misuse them, with five to 10 percent developing an opioid use disorder or addiction. In a new study, UC San Diego researchers found that opioid dependence produced permanent changes in the brains of rats. Newswise — More specifically, researchers reported that dependence on oxycodone, a potent opioid painkiller, led to permanent neuro-adaptations of the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) at the level of the nociceptin system, a brainwide network that modulates transmission of pain. Downregulation or suppression of the nociceptin system in the CeA led to an increase in activation of GABA receptors in rats highly addicted to opioids. The discovery is consistent with previous findings reporting CeA neuroa-daptations after cocaine and alcohol dependence. When researchers restored nociceptin levels in the CeA, it resulted in normalization of GABAergic transmission and a reduction of the rats’ opioid consumption. “This suggests the nociceptin system may be a promising target for the treatment of opioid use disorder,” said senior author Giordano de Guglielmo, PharmD, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine. “To reveal the role of nociceptin in the central nucleus of the amygdala, we used a multidisciplinary approach with behavioral models, molecular biology and electrophysiology,” said first author Marsida Kallupi, PharmD, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry. “That allowed us to conclude that downregulation of this peptide may be partially responsible for excessive opioid addiction-like behaviors.” Currently, opioid maintenance therapy is the first-line treatment for opioid dependence, which involves using alternative, less damaging medications, such as methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone. These three drugs are the only treatments approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but all have limitations, either because they act against different receptors, pose safety concerns or are less effective due to the need for strict adherence to treatment. Both methadone and buprenorphine target mu-opioid receptors in the brain. The new research builds upon past behavioral and neurochemical studies suggesting the nociceptin system and its receptors (NOP) are also involved in opioid tolerance and reward, addiction to multiple drugs and modulation of stress. Interestingly, while the research demonstrates that NOP is implicated in development of opioid dependence, it conversely blocks effects of morphine-based opioids. De Guglielmo said several efforts are already underway testing small molecule drugs that target the nociception system, and have produced positive effects in reducing alcohol-seeking behaviors and biology in rats. The new findings indicate they may offer similar potential therapeutic benefit for opioid addiction. Every day, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, more than 130 people in the United States die after overdosing on opioids. Two out of three drug overdose deaths involve an opioid. From 1999 to 2017, the last year for which data is available, almost 400,000 Americans lost their lives to opioids, with 47,600 fatal overdoses in 2017 alone. It’s estimated 2.1 million Americans have an opioid use disorder. To read the original article click here.

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Decades of Research Confirms: Popular OTC Drug Linked to Harm in Developing Babies

Opioid Dependence Found to Permanently Change Brains of Rats