Regular aspirin use may protect cancer

Regular aspirin use may protect more than just your heart - it could also reduce your risk of getting cancer.

Aditya Bardia and colleagues at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota, analysed the cancer history of more than 22,000 post-menopausal women over 12 years. Those who reported taking aspirin regularly at the start of the study were 16 per cent less likely to develop cancer and 13 per cent less likely to die from it during that time. The only lifestyle factor that influenced the results was smoking, which reduced the protective effect slightly.

Bardia says aspirin's anti-inflammatory action is probably responsible, although a similar effect
was not seen with other anti-inflammatories, such as ibuprofen. The findings were presented at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Los Angeles this week.

From issue 2600 of New Scientist magazine, 23 April 2007, page 16