The Wonder Drug
March 21st, 2012A study published in The Lancet today revealed that daily aspirin can actually prevent colorectal cancer and existing cancers from spreading. Most people recognize daily low dose aspirin as an effective means of preventing heart attacks, but this new study only adds to the reasons why you should keep this anti-inflammatory medication in your medicine cabinet.
While scientists are still trying to find out the mechanism for aspirin’s ability to prevent/halt cancer cells, I believe the key may be the anti-inflammatory properties of this wonder drug. We are finding that many cancers are caused by chronic inflammation. For example, cervical cancer is strongly linked to HPV infections of the cervix.
Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) was known to Hippocrates in 400 B.C. in the form of willow bark. In the age of rapid advances in drug development, it amazes me that a chemical which exists in many of our parks and yards is found to have so many healing qualities. I shudder to think what other “miracle drugs” are hidden in the remaining rain forests of the world that are one bulldozer away from extinction.
Should everyone be taking an aspirin a day? I don’t think this is a wise idea. Aspirin does have its own side effects, the most common being a tendency to bleed, gastritis and ulcers. Any gastroenterologist will tell you that he/she has seen very severe bleeding ulcers from taking even enteric-coated or “safety-coated” low dose aspirin. The Lancet study did mention that the risks of bleeding does appear to diminish over time.
However, if you do have a family history of colorectal cancer, or have a personal history of cancer, it may not be a bad idea to discuss with your physician the possiblilty of starting aspirin. If you are currently taking aspirin, make sure you let your physician know that you are on it .
