Another benefit of aspirin – cancer prevention.

There is much debate on the value of the humble aspirin, and decade ago it was suggested that everybody over the age of 40 should be taking an aspirin tablet, it does seem to reduce the risk of heart disease and strokes but slightly increases the risk of bleeding, and currently most people believe that only those with definite heart disease or stroke should be taking it.
But a recent presentation from China suggests that aspirin might reduce the risk of cancer.
They followed over 600,000 people for 7 years, and those taking aspirin long-term had a 47% lower risk of liver and oesophageal cancer, 30%  of gastric cancer, 34% pancreatic cancer and 24% less leukaemia and colon cancer. (click here)
These are fairly spectacular numbers, I think the study needs to be repeated and analysed more before we recommend people take aspirin to prevent cancer, but certainly it gives another potential benefit from taking this drug.   Perhaps those with a family history of these forms of cancer could consider taking a small dose (100mg) daily with food.   Its only real risk is to increase the risk of bleeding, and that risk is very small.