Hippocrates’s 3-Cent Aspirin a Day May Keep Cancer at Bay

[xchrom]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-20/hippocrates-s-3-cent-aspirin-once-a-day-may-keep-cancer-away.html

Aspirin, the 3-cent painkiller whose origins can be traced to Hippocrates, reduces the chances of developing or dying from cancer earlier than previously thought and also prevents tumors from spreading, studies showed.

People who took a daily low dose of aspirin had a 24 percent lower rate of developing cancer after three years, according to a study in The Lancet medical journal today. Those who took a daily dose of any size were 37 percent less likely to die from the disease after five years than those who didn’t, the study found. The rate was similar for men and women.

Doctors have known since 2007 that aspirin can reduce the long-term risk of dying from cancer, though those benefits are only seen after at least eight years. The new studies show the drug also has short-term advantages, suggesting it could be used to treat some tumors, said Peter Rothwell, a professor at the University of Oxford who led the research.

“Aspirin differs from virtually all other drugs in that situation, both in the sense that it’s considerably cheaper, but also it’s probably a lot safer,” Rothwell said in a telephone interview.

[kestrel91316]

1. But we're told not to take this DANGEROUS DRUG daily without a doctor's

advice - we might bleed to death!!!1!!11!!!

[suffragette]

2. Noticed 2 interesting facts in reading this and another article

1) From the linked article about the bleeding
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-20/hippocrates-s-3-cent-aspirin-once-a-day-may-keep-cancer-away.html
The researchers also found that the risk of internal bleeding -- a potential side-effect of aspirin -- wanes over three or four years, Rothwell said. After that, the risk of dying from a bleed was lower among those taking aspirin than those who weren’t, the study found.

That's the 1st time I've seen the part that the bleed risk would lower after time - I wonder if this research is really the first time that has become evident.

2) From an article in the Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/shortcuts/2012/mar/21/can-aspirin-reduce-cancer-risk

When was aspirin's anticancer effect discovered?

Studies in mice in the 1960s showed that aspirin slowed the spread of cancer, but the research never made it into clinics, partly because aspirin was off patent, so companies had little to gain from funding trials.

[emilyg]

3. You were told correctly - I

had an ulcer and would have bled with aspirin.