High doses of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) like ibuprofen for 8 weeks inhibit muscle growth by 2-fold in young, healthy individuals. The high dose of NSAID was 1,200 mg of ibuprofen and one a relatively low dose (75 mg acetylsalicylic acid) every day for eight weeks. During the same period, the participants also engaged in supervised weight-training exercises for the thigh muscles two to three times a week. The group that took the ibuprofen had two fold less muscle mass than the group that took the aspirin after 8 weeks. Most NSAIDs with the exception of aspirin inhibit the enzyme cox2. Other studies have shown that activation of cox2 is important for muscle growth. Other anti-inflammatories such as curcumin and fish oil are not strong inhibitors of cox2 and have not been shown to inhibit muscle mass growth like NSAIDs.