Acetaminophen overuse might put your brain in as much risk as your liver

This is your brain at risk

It’s dangerous and unnecessary and I won’t allow any products with it in my house.

Sure, that could be food coloring, hydrogenated oils, HFCS or any number of poisons the mainstream defends at all costs. But if you know me at all, you know I’m talking about acetaminophen.

For years now I’ve been warning you about how easy it is to unknowingly take an excessive dose of acetaminophen — and how incredibly dangerous that is. And finally, it seems like the mainstream is finally listening.

Recently, Johnson & Johnson, the maker of Tylenol (the most well-known form of acetaminophen) cut the recommended maximum daily dose from 4,000 mg to 3,000 mg.

Well…baby steps, right?

I suppose that recommendation change helps. But, it goes about one-quarter of one percent toward solving the problem.

As I’ve shown you, the real danger is in the huge variety of over-the-counter products that contain acetaminophen. That’s what really drives the large number of overdoses.

But we now know that that proliferation of acetaminophen may have much more far reaching consequences than just liver damage.

Recently, evidence has started to emerge that suggests your brain might be in just as much danger as your liver when acetaminophen is overused.

A shocking connection

Acetaminophen first was introduced in the 1880s. The first Alzheimer’s disease cases were diagnosed about ten years later.

That’s just circumstantial evidence, but toward the end of the 20th century, patterns of painkiller use vs. rates of Alzheimer’s began to emerge.

To begin with, researchers noticed an apparent reduced risk of Alzheimer’s among arthritis patients.

Eventually, they understood that excessive free radical activity causes inflammation that destroys brain neurons. And, of course, that inflammation is curbed in arthritis patients who take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) daily.

So when researchers investigated Alzheimer’s risk among NSAIDs users in the late 1990s, they weren’t surprised to find that NSAIDs use was linked to reduced AD risk. But they WERE surprised by a marked INCREASE in AD risk among people who frequently used acetaminophen for two years or more.

Further investigation showed that acetaminophen decreased levels of an important brain antioxidant. When that antioxidant is depleted, free radical activity is increased and sets off damaging inflammation.

So is it actually possible that the stunning rise in the number of Alzheimer’s patients over the past few decades might have a direct link to the widespread use of acetaminophen in so many medications available without a prescription?

Needless to say, this question requires immediate attention from researchers.

As for NSAIDs, any notion that they could be used on a daily basis to help prevent Alzheimer’s is completely ludicrous. These drugs might reduce risk in some patients, but constant use of an NSAID increases risk of potentially fatal health problems.

Want to curb inflation? Omega-3 fatty acids provide a much safer way to do that. And you can be certain it’s no coincidence that high omega-3 intake has been linked with reduced Alzheimer’s risk.

Sources:
“Is Alzheimer’s Disease Caused by Paracetamol?” Walter Last, Nexus, February-March 2011, nexusmagazine.com

“Alzheimer’s Disease — A Functional Approach” David Perlmutter, M.D., Townsend Letter for Doctors & Patients, July 2002, townsendletter.com