Warning: Pregnancy and Tylenol
About Kelly Brogan
KELLY BROGAN, MD, is a holistic psychiatrist, author of the New York Times Bestselling book, A Mind of Your Own, Own Your Self, the children’s book, A Time For Rain, and co-editor of the landmark textbook Integrative Therapies for Depression.
“We used to count a baby’s 10 fingers and 10 toes and assume that any drug his mother took must have been safe,” said Dr. Daniel Kahn, a specialist in fetal-maternal health from UCLA. In a 64,000 person Danish retrospective study, women were more likely to give birth to children eventually diagnosed with ADHD if they took Tylenol (acetaminophen) during pregnancy. Specifically, the breakdown was:
- 29% more likely in any trimester
- 9% in first
- 63% in 2nd and 3rd
- 28% in third
There are many limitations to this type of research; however, Tylenol’s depletion of the body’s most important antioxidant, glutathione, gives this correlation scientific plausibility, and raises serious concerns for this commonplace intervention.I recommend that my patients never take ibuprofen or acetaminophen but instead use gentle support such as homeopathy, broths, and comforting immune support drinks such as an apple cider vinegar, honey, garlic tea.Read the study here.