Aspirin, which is widely used as analgesics (pain relievers), continue to develop their utilization. According to recent reports from British scientists, low-dose aspirin in the long term can reduce the risk of dying from several types of cancer.
In the study analysis, published in prestigious medical journal, The Lancet, scientists from Oxford University said the risk of death than 25,000 cancer patients under study is reduced to 20 percent.
However, experts do not want to rush to recommend healthy people to take aspirin. The reason, still found the side effects of this drug, namely bleeding and a number of other side effects in female patients.
Research conducted and Peter Rothwell of Oxford’s team compared patients who took aspirin 75 mg daily for heart disease and those who take placebo pills or other drugs. The dose is 75 mg are low and are usually used for infant dose. This study lasted for about four years.
The result is known that deaths from prostate cancer and lung cancer can be reduced to 20 percent in the group taking aspirin every day. Meanwhile, the risk of colon cancer deaths decreased 35 percent. However, in breast cancer patient groups, aspirin did not provide significant results.
The reduction in pancreatic cancer, stomach, and brain death difficult to quantify due to a smaller amount.
Experts in the field of cancer has so far said it is not going to recommend aspirin to their patients. “We were not able to make treatment decisions based on this study,” said Dr. Raymond DuBois, a specialist in cancer prevention at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
One of the things that concerns experts is that research is designed to look at the risk of cardiovascular disease so that the comparison group respondents may have different risk factors for death due to cancer.
Aspirin itself has long been recommended for patients with heart disorders. However, aspirin also has serious side effects, such as stomach bleeding and gastrointestinal tract, as well as on the elderly will increase the risk of injury from falls.
Therefore, the experts warned, before taking aspirin every day should consult with your doctor. For healthy people, the recommended cancer prevention is a healthy lifestyle modifications, such as stopping smoking and reducing fat intake.
