Is paracetamol use in pregnancy harmful for male babies?

Conclusion This was a well-designed laboratory study looking at the effect of paracetamol on testicular development. As it would be unethical to study this in pregnant women, the researchers used a mouse model. This involved grafting samples of human foetal testicular tissue under the skin of mice. The main finding from the study was that oral paracetamol reduced testosterone production if given at a dose equivalent to humans, three times a day for one week. A single dose of paracetamol did not reduce testosterone production. As the researchers say, they tested the effect of single dose exposure as it is assumed that pregnant women are more likely to use paracetamol occasionally rather than continuously.  The study's strengths include the randomisation procedure, which meant different doses and regimes of paracetamol could be directly compared with the control condition. However, this study has some limitations because of the nature of a mouse model. These include: graft testicular tissue may not respond in exactly the same way as normal testicular development in the womb the grafts were fragments of testis tissue – an intact testicle may act differently the mice were immunocompromised, which may have influenced the results The results of this study suggest that regular paracetamol for seven days may reduce the production of testosterone by the developing testicle. However, further studies would be required to determine if this would be the case in huma...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Medication Pregnancy/child Source Type: news