Study: Popular pain relievers can make you less empathetic

COLUMBUS, OH. (KRON) – Tylenol might do more than just numb the pain, or get rid of a headache, according to a new study.

Researchers at the Ohio State University said it can also make people less sympathetic. They attribute the lack of empathy to the main ingredient-acetaminophen.

“These findings suggest other people’s pain doesn’t seem as big of a deal to you when you’ve taken acetaminophen,” said Dominik Mischkowski, who is co-author of the study and a former Ph.D. student at Ohio State, now at the National Institutes of Health.

Acetaminophen is used in more than 600 medications in the United States.Researchers would like to do a larger study to get a better understanding the effect.