Just popping one low-dose aspirin each day could
lower your risk for a wide array of cancers, according a study
published in the medical journal The Lancet and reported by HealthDay News.
For
the study, researchers reviewed eight studies of more than 25,000
patients originally examined to track the effect of aspirin on
cardiovascular disease. The patients took a low-dose aspirin regimen of
75 milligrams daily and were followed for up to 20 years.
After
checking the data, scientists found that overall cancer death risk fell
by 21 percent among patients on the low-dose aspirin regimen. In
addition, patients experienced long-term benefits. For example, five
years after the study, patient deaths from gastrointestinal cancers
decreased 54 percent. In addition, 20 years after starting the low-dose
aspirin program, prostate cancer patients saw a 10 percent death risk
drop, nonsmoking lung cancer patients a 30 percent decrease in death,
colorectal cancer patients a 40 percent drop, and esophageal cancer
patients a 60 percent decrease.
“These findings provide the first proof in man that aspirin reduces deaths due to several common cancers,” researchers said.
The
team also found that higher doses of aspirin did not provide additional
protective benefits, and that the death risk fell most dramatically
among older patients. (Scientists suggest that adults who start an
aspirin regimen in their late 40s or 50s might reap the biggest
benefit.)
But adults shouldn’t immediately begin taking aspirin,
warned Peter Rothwell, a neurologist at John Radcliffe Hospital in
England and lead study author. Why? Because the bleeding risk
associated with healthy middle-age people taking low-dose aspirin
“partly offsets the benefit from prevention of strokes and heart
attacks.”
Simply put, this means that people who aren’t
currently on a low-dose or regular aspirin-taking program should chat
with their doctors before they try this regimen.
Did you know you can also lower your cancer risk by making a few easy lifestyle changes? Click here to read more.
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