TUESDAY, July 23 (HealthScoutNews) -- The pain reliever acetaminophen may do more than ease your aches and pains -- it may also keep your heart healthy. In a series of laboratory experiments, researchers at Rutgers University found acetaminophen can help heart muscle recover faster from periods of low blood flow, known as ischemic attacks, which typically occur in people with heart disease.
"Acetaminophen-treated hearts recovered more rapidly and completely in terms of function than placebo-treated hearts did," says lead researcher Gary Merrill, a professor in Rutgers' department of cell biology and neuroscience.
Ischemia is a condition that causes reduced blood flow to an area of the body. In cardiac ischemia, which is also known as coronary artery disease, blood flow to the heart is reduced, usually due to narrowed arteries. These periods of reduced blood flow can cause pain, but often do not. As many as 3 million to 4 million Americans have cardiac ischemia and don't know it, according to the American Heart Association.
Using animal models, including guinea pigs, Merrill and his colleagues studied how acetaminophen affected the heart after a period of ischemia. They used what would be considered a high therapeutic dose in humans, Merrill says, but the doses would not be considered toxic.
They found acetaminophen acted directly on the heart and helped to preserve heart function, says Merrill. The researchers believe this effect comes from antioxidant properties in acetaminophen.
"Acetaminophen appears to have a fairly broad spectrum of action against multiple oxidants," Merrill says.
The findings were published in a recent issue of the American Journal of Physiology.
However, Merrill cautions against changing your acetaminophen intake based on these studies because the results need to be duplicated in humans.
Dr. Dan Fisher, a cardiologist at New York University Medical Center, agrees.
"We're a long way from saying, 'Take Tylenol to protect your heart,'" Fisher says. However, if acetaminophen does have antioxidant properties, that would explain how the drug limited the extent of heart damage in the lab experiments.
Merrill's work was supported, in part, by grants from McNeil Consumer and Specialty Pharmaceuticals, the makers of Tylenol, a brand-name acetaminophen.
What To Do
To learn more about acetaminophen and its side effects, visit the Community Health Care Patient Education Library.
Aspirin is another drug with apparent protective effects on the heart. For more information on aspirin therapy to prevent heart disease, visit the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
SOURCES: Gary Merrill, Ph.D., department of cell biology and neuroscience, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J.; Dan Fisher, M.D., cardiologist, New York University Medical Center, New York City; April 2002 American Journal of Physiology~DRUG~~HRTD~~CORA~~HATT~
