Attention gym lovers! Ibuprofen stops your muscles from getting bigger, says study

In June this year, a finding claimed after a study that hitting the gym and doing weights could prevent the onset of dementia, the most common type being Alzheimer's disease. The research was published in the Acta Physiological journal.

Now barely two months later, another study has come up which suggests that those going to the gym and doing weights should avoid taking painkillers, especially Ibuprofen, as they interfere with the healing process of muscles thereby stopping them from gaining mass and getting bigger following a workout.

According to the study, regular intake of Ibuprofen can slow down muscle growth. The research was conducted by Swedish scientists. Dr Tommy Lundberg, from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, was behind the ‘extremely interesting’ findings.

The team measured certain variables, including muscle growth, strength, and anti-inflammatory markers. The findings indicated that after eight weeks, the increase in muscle volume was twice as large in the low-dose aspirin group. The muscle strength was weakened with high doses of anti-inflammatory drugs, but not to such a huge extent.

Dr Lundberg added that the researchers chose to look at the effect of Ibuprofen as it is the most well-studied anti-inflammatory drug on the market. “But we believe that high doses of all types of over-the-counter NSAIDs have similar effects,” the authors noted.

Ibuprofen is a medication in the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) class.