Cheap Miracle Drug: Aspirin

Research data keep showing that ordinary Aspirin is truly a miracle drug. It is the most widely used medicine in the world for good reason. Thankfully it has been around a long time and is incredibly cheap. If a pharmaceutical company had invented this substance and found all the health benefits of it that we now know about, it would have forced us to pay a high price for it.

Dealing with headaches and pain is fine, but most people have probably learned about the cardiovascular benefits of a daily dose of Aspirin. Indisputably, with its blood thinning capability it helps keep arteries clean and clear of deadly plaque and clots, which means it can prevent heart attacks and strokes.

Now, new research published in the British journal Lancet have documented that daily doses of Aspirin can also provide incredible cancer benefits.

Eight trials involving 25,570 patients over four to eight years have provided compelling evidence that should convince everyone that there is even more reason to take daily Aspirin.

Consider this: people were found to be 21 percent less likely to die from cancer, compared to those receiving a placebo.

Even more impressive was this finding: five years after the trials had ended death rates for all cancers dropped by 35 percent and from gastrointestinal cancers by an amazing 54 percent.

And the 20 year risk of cancer was 20 percent lower for Aspirin-takers.

It takes time for daily Aspirin to work its wonders. The period needed for providing a positive impact for esophageal, pancreatic, bran and lung cancer was about five years. For stomach and colorectal cancer 10 years was needed, and for prostate cancer about 15 years was needed.

While the ordinary benefits of Aspirin are generally believed to relate to the anti-inflammatory properties of it, the anti-cancer performance is believed to result from inhibition of an enzyme that promotes cell proliferation in tumors.

For cancer benefits, no more than 75 mg was found needed for a daily dose, this is consistent with the 81 mg (baby Aspirin) generally associated with taking it for cardiovascular benefits and which is readily available at low cost. Though some research supports a dose twice that.

In a different study positive results for breast cancer were found. An aspirin at least two days a week significantly reduced breast cancer death risk by 64 percent to 71 percent, as reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The results were based on responses from 4,164 female registered nurses diagnosed with early stage breast cancer between 1976 and 2002 with follow-up through death or June 2006. In other words, Aspirin did not prevent breast cancer, but reduced death rates from it. The researchers believed that most of the women in the study who took aspirin were taking low-dose aspirin (81 mg per day) to lower their risk for heart attack and stroke.

In a another study this result was reported: Compared with people who did not take Aspirin regularly, those who did take it at least one day per month had a 26 percent reduction in risk of pancreatic cancer. Even more interesting, those who took daily low-dose Aspirin for heart disease prevention had a 35 percent lower risk of pancreatic cancer.

Professor Peter Elwood, an epidemiologist from Cardiff University, who carried out some of the first studies into the effects of aspirin on health, said: "Aspirin should be thought of in the same context as lifestyle changes such as diet and exercise which can help to preserve health."

And Professor Peter Rothwell of the Department of Clinical Neurology at Oxford University, who led the first British cancer study mentioned, commented on the usual risks of taking Aspirin: "When you add in the cancer benefit on top of [cardiovascular benefits] it pushes things much more in favor."

Of course, there have always been warnings about stomach ulcers and bleeding, but these new benefits seem to challenge those concerns. Thus it is always smart to discuss taking Aspirin with your physician.