Via AOL.com:
People at high risk of developing colon cancer can cut their risk of developing the disease by taking a low dose of aspirin once a day, according to a new study.
Researchers at the John Radcliffe Hospital and University of Oxford in the United Kingdom found that a 75-milligram dose of aspirin taken daily will decrease colon cancer risk by 24 percent.
The study, published in the early online edition of The Lancet today, also suggests that those who have been diagnosed with colon cancer can reduce their risk of dying from the condition by 35 percent if they take a low dose of aspirin each day.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean all of us should start popping an aspirin each morning with breakfast. The study findings only apply to individuals at high risk of developing colorectal cancer, like those with a family history of the disease.
Dr. David Ryan, clinical director of Massachusetts General Hospital’s Cancer Center, told AOL Health the news that aspirin can fight colon cancer isn’t new. “The hidden story in all of this is that colonoscopy may not do as good a job of preventing right-sided colon cancer as it does in fighting left-sided,” he says. That means that aspirin may be central to fighting colon cancer where colonoscopy fails.
“Colonoscopy has not done the job we thought it would do years ago of wiping out colon cancer,” Ryan adds, “but we do know that aspirin decreases the risk for right-sided colon cancer.” He says the aspirin likely acts as a COX-2 inhibitor. COX-2 is an enzyme responsible for inflammation in the body. Aspirin may also slow the development of intestinal polyps, which can develop into cancer.
Researchers from this latest study reviewed data from four randomized trials designed to evaluate aspirin’s effect on vascular disease and colorectal cancer. It included more than 14,000 people treated with aspirin or a placebo for six years with almost 20 years of follow-up.
