• SpiderShoeCult@sopuli.xyz
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    1 year ago

    Paracetamol is not anti-inflammatory in any serious context, which is to say taking paracetamol to reduce actual inflammation (think gout or rheumatoid arthritis) is more or less useless. From the wikipedia article on paracetamol:

    Paracetamol inhibits prostaglandin synthesis by reducing the active form of COX-1 and COX-2 enzymes. This occurs only when the concentration of arachidonic acid and peroxides is low. Under these conditions, COX-2 is the predominant form of cyclooxygenase, which explains the apparent COX-2 selectivity of paracetamol. Under the conditions of inflammation, the concentration of peroxides is high, which counteracts the reducing effect of paracetamol. Accordingly, the anti-inflammatory action of paracetamol is slight.

    It is, however, an analgesic.