Policy & Regulation
Study Shows Use of Acetaminophen Affects Regulation of Sex Hormones
9 February 2018 - - A new study led by scientists at San Diego, California-based genomics and health intelligence company Human Longevity, Inc. (HLI), along with an international team of academic and commercial researchers, has shown the potentially negative impact of the widely used, over–the-counter drug acetaminophen (paracetamol) on sex hormones, which has significant implications for reproductive health, the company said.
The study, published in the journal EBioMedicine, highlights the power of genomic and metabolomic profiling to better understand drug mechanisms of action and metabolism even in common drugs such as acetaminophen.
The researchers first looked at 455 active adults over age 18 who were divided into two groups--a 208-person machine learning training set and a 247-person test set.
As a validation set, the team included 1,880 European ancestry twins from the TwinsUK cohort and 1,235 individuals of African American and Hispanic ancestry from the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study.
Metabolomic analysis of more than 700 metabolites was conducted by the company Metabolon, Inc.
The team identified depletion of sulfated sex hormones associated with acetaminophen use in all the study populations. The results showed that use of acetaminophen is roughly equivalent to 35 years of aging on sulfated hormone levels, which could affect placental health and general reproductive health.
While there are many factors that go into reproductive health, this new study identified an area of acetaminophen's effects that weren't previously known, offering some insight into previous studies suggesting that acetaminophen exposure during gestation may impact development of masculine and behavioral characteristics.
HLI combines the largest database of genomic and phenotypic data with machine learning to drive discoveries and revolutionize the practice of medicine.
HLI's business focus includes the HLI Health Nucleus, a genomic-powered, clinical research and discovery center which uses whole genome sequence analysis, advanced clinical imaging and innovative machine learning, along with curated personal health information, to deliver the most complete picture of individual health.
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