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In this study there are three experiments:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5789927/

The first one is this underpowered (small) study of living people, by blood test. A lot of imagination is needed to argue that it is reasonable to expect that a similar experiment involving 50,000 would yield similar results.

The second experiment is performed on four 3cc samples of tissue taken from testicles of deceased men with prostate cancer. I argue that a dead testicle is probably decaying and won't work normally to produce sperm, ibuprofen or not. This is bogus. To deduce "compensatory hypogonadism" using dead and decaying tissue from a deceased donor with cancer is a stretch, in my opinion: nothing it's getting compensated, those organs are decomposing.

And it's not even the whole testicle. Samples from testicles from dead men, exposed to toxic substances, in a well, then beaten up by lab machines many times. These inferences are impossible to make. Those testis have seen better days, no doubt.

The third experiment is even worse. It's about a human cell line from a adrenocortical carcinoma, which is related to the adrenal glands that exist on top of the kidneys. It has always been known that ibuprofen damages the kidneys and affects the endocrine system in general. That's how it works to reduce inflammation.

The truth is that anything can affect the reproductive system in humans. In the spring, the air is loaded with polen from the trees and flowers, it's like a drug, all animals receive that in their bodies as they breathe. The light from the sun also affects the reproductive system. And the absence of light.

In out synthetic world, all plastics seem to affect a little bit our system. And it is a safe assumption that all petroleum derived drugs affect the endocrine system and the reproductive system. (Aren't people crazy these days?)

Even worse, curcuma root, turmeric, has a long standing tradition as a plant extract meant to regulate hormones. It also reduces fertility and I can imagine that has been used as a eugenics drug for thousands of years. They are a ton of racists in India.

Any anti-inflammatory compound is used to correct the body, which wants to be in one state and we don't want it to be in that state, because we cannot rest and we have to work, etc. There are always invisible consequences.

And the tradition of those who want big muscles in their bodies is to follow nature: heavy exercise until it hurts, then rest. No drugs. Resting is the moment when the muscles grow. Rinse and repeat.

Bulls and buffaloes and gnus are very strong. They run a break things and fight, and rest, and rest some more, and then more rest, and then it's another day. No drugs, other than what the earth and the water and the air provide.

Cheating the system with drugs will have bad consequences. Perhaps this small study shows a glimpse of how those consequences are. Perhaps not.

Muscle men must be informed that too much ibuprofen and their daughters will probably be communists. That's the worst imaginable outcome.

DMSO alone probably has a better analgesic effect and it does not affect the endocrine system in this way. For people with chronic pain, of any age, we need real analgesics that help them and hurt them less than the current NSAIDs and acetaminophen. And the ideal of treating the root cause of a disease is fine, but if it is not possible, it is reasonable to have an alternative, which is helping the pain. But the alternative is now the primary care. That's the whole problem in a nutshell.

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Hi Roger, I am not going to issue a retraction, but I am going to add a suggestion at the beginning of the article that people review your comment. While these don't appear to be ideal studies, you mention yourself that Ibuprofen is known to damage kidneys so hopefully our readers will understand that allopathic medicine almost always has side-effects. Also, I would mention that a lot of inflammation in the body (and mucus) is caused by diet so absent physical trauma or work out recovery then improving diet should be the 1st treatment vs. drugs with known side effects. Thanks again for your superb comments. They are valued!

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Hi Roger, excellent comments. I am not going to add a full retraction to this but I am going to add a disclaimer to review your comment as I found it well reasoned BUT, as you mention yourself in your comment, Ibuprofen damages kidneys so it is not a stretch that other effects could be taking place. I hope this article makes everyone question pharmaceutical interventions vs. diet, fasting, and other orthomolecular approaches. If the body is inflamed then solution #1 should be to address the issue causing the inflation which will most likely be diet absent physical trauma vs. taking pHARMa allopathic interventions which always include side effects. I really appreciate your feedback and comments.

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By the way, if anyone is worried about fertility, there is probably a lot that can be done that is cheap and accessible. I think they are trying to create the idea that fertility problems are very expensive to address and need the latest tech.

Common sense perhaps is a good guide. Simply removing bad food and bad habits will improve the situation. And as a complement to correcting mistakes, let's remember that testosterone is a cholesterol-derived hormone, so eating butter is probably good for fertility and good mood in general.

Butter instead of sugar and bad food, not on top of that. There is no escaping the fact that sugar has to go.

I remember from years ago a comment/conjecture by someone, that made sense to me: over millennia, all religious traditions find that a low-fat diet is useful to suppress fertility and sexual appetite in monks and nuns, which is an obstacle to spiritual life, according to some doctrines.

I think that's a huge clue from the past.

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Thank you, you are very kind.

I agree. That's the idea, we all have to learn to question scientific articles, and focus on root causes.

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