Just popping one low-dose aspirin each day couldlower your risk for a wide array of cancers, according a studypublished in the medical journal The Lancet and reported by HealthDay News.

Forthe study, researchers reviewed eight studies of more than 25,000patients originally examined to track the effect of aspirin oncardiovascular disease. The patients took a low-dose aspirin regimen of75 milligrams daily and were followed for up to 20 years.

Afterchecking the data, scientists found that overall cancer death risk fellby 21 percent among patients on the low-dose aspirin regimen. Inaddition, patients experienced long-term benefits. For example, fiveyears after the study, patient deaths from gastrointestinal cancersdecreased 54 percent. In addition, 20 years after starting the low-doseaspirin program, prostate cancer patients saw a 10 percent death riskdrop, nonsmoking lung cancer patients a 30 percent decrease in death,colorectal cancer patients a 40 percent drop, and esophageal cancerpatients a 60 percent decrease.

“These findings provide the first proof in man that aspirin reduces deaths due to several common cancers,” researchers said.

Theteam also found that higher doses of aspirin did not provide additionalprotective benefits, and that the death risk fell most dramaticallyamong older patients. (Scientists suggest that adults who start anaspirin regimen in their late 40s or 50s might reap the biggestbenefit.)

But adults shouldn’t immediately begin taking aspirin,warned Peter Rothwell, a neurologist at John Radcliffe Hospital inEngland and lead study author. Why? Because the bleeding riskassociated with healthy middle-age people taking low-dose aspirin“partly offsets the benefit from prevention of strokes and heartattacks.”

Simply put, this means that people who aren’tcurrently on a low-dose or regular aspirin-taking program should chatwith 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.