New drug alert. According to a viral Facebook post, the famous Doliprane would have a more than strange side effect. “It would be responsible for a drop in sulphated sex hormones, that is to say the storage form of your hormones”, explains the video. The fall would normally happen in adulthood, but taking this medication would anticipate its arrival. This would be, again according to the publication, the equivalent of aging for 35 years.
The video also explains that taking Doliprane in pregnant women could also be dangerous. “Doliprane would be responsible for abnormalities in genital development in boys”, warns the publication. Where does this information come from and can we believe it? 20 minutes pondered the subject.
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Where does this theory come from? In 2018, several researchers published in the medical journal EBioMedicine a study proving the link between acetaminophen [le paracétamol] and reproductive health. The study was then carried out on a sample of 455 individuals and subsequently validated on several different groups. According to the study results, there is “a distinctive pattern of sulfated sex hormone depletion with acetaminophen use.” “The effect of taking acetaminophen on sulfated sex hormones was roughly equivalent to the effect of 35 years of aging,” the research concludes.
In another study published in the scientific journal Reproduction, researchers from the University of Copenhagen have also shown that boys exposed to paracetamol during pregnancy may have a decline in sexual desire several years later. Performed on pregnant mice, the study then showed that exposure to the molecule had an impact on ejaculation in adulthood.
A risk in athletes
A few years earlier, in 2013 to be exact, similar research had been published by Inserm researchers in France. They demonstrated that certain analgesics – such as paracetamol – could have the same effect as an endocrine disruptor, especially among heavy consumers of these drugs.
“Some high-level athletes use and abuse it, especially for preventive purposes. In addition to the potential risks to fertility or health in general, these products which cause a drop in testosterone production could therefore be counterproductive in terms of performance”, concluded Bernard Jégou, the director of the Institute at the time. research, health, environment and work (IRSET).
Inconclusive studies
Several signals have therefore been reported to the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Subsequently, the Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC) published recommendations in April 2019. “Use of paracetamol during pregnancy and child neurological development and effects on the urogenital system”, says one of the chapters based on non-clinical and epidemiological data from studies. “The PRAC concluded that the studies are not conclusive, but the summary of the product characteristic (SPC) of medicinal products containing paracetamol must be modified in order to reflect the current state of scientific knowledge”, nuances the Authority in its report .
As for the data concerning pregnant women, the EMA found “no malformative toxicity, nor foeto/neonatal” and the same is true for the question of neurological development in children exposed to paracetamol in utero. “If clinically necessary, paracetamol can be used during pregnancy, but it should be used at the lowest effective dose for the shortest possible duration and at the lowest possible frequency”, recalls however the European organization .
Side effects still present
A recommendation joined by Pierre-Olivier Variot, the president of the UPSO (Union of Unions of Community Pharmacists). Asked by 20 minutes, he explains: “Anyway, any medicine exposes you to side effects and risks. What we are looking for is the highest possible benefit/risk ratio, that is to say the one that would have the most benefits and the least possible risks”.
As a reminder, paracetamol is one of the only analgesics available to pregnant women, unlike anti-inflammatories such as ibuprofen or aspirin, whose toxic effect on the fetus has already been scientifically demonstrated. “It’s an absolute contraindication”, insists Pierre-Olivier Variot.