Abstract

Background: Headache is the most common complaint in patients. In order to alleviate the headache, specialists have recommended different chemical and non-chemical drugs. Acetaminophen is one of the widespread analgesic drugs used for headache relief. On the other hand, tea (Camellia thea Lk.) is the most common drink for the most people world wide. In addition, previous studies indicated that tea's alkaloids seem to inhibit the acetaminophen metabolism. Objective: The present study aims to assess the effect of tea consumption on effectiveness of acetaminophen. Methods: In order to test the hypothesis, 120 patients suffered from headache referred to the Shaheed Motahari general hospital in Jahrom (Fars province, south of IRAN) were requested to take part in a single blind clinical trial study. 58 patients as the case group have received a glass of tea and after 20 min they had taken a 325 mg acetaminophen tablet 62 patients as the control group received a glass of warm water and 20 min later had the same drug. Pain intensity was twice measured by a self-report questionnaire. The first one was 15 min before the tea or water consumption and the second, 60 min after receiving the acetaminophen. Results: Results showed that: consumption of tea before taking acetaminophen significantly reduced the pain intensity comparing with the control group. In addition, with respect to sex and age, no significant differences were found between the groups. Conclusion: It can be concluded that consumption of tea before taking acetaminophen may accelerate the analgesic effectiveness of the drug.