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Scientists demonstrate aspirin's potential to prevent some forms of cancer

Category: Colon

At the 2012 European Society for Medical Oncology Conference in Austria, some researchers showed that taking aspirin could help an individual avoid receiving positive blood test results for colorectal cancer tumors.

"The efficacy of aspirin in preventing colorectal cancer has been made obvious by more than 20 years of research," said Robert Benamouzig of the Department of Gastroenterology at Avicenne Hospital in Bobigny, France.

Benamouzig pointed out that the results were based on five randomized studies of more than 14,000 individuals who had taken a blood test confirming colorectal cancer, indicating that daily aspirin intake can lessen the chances of developing colorectal cancer by almost 25 percent and reduce the chances of dying from the condition by 35 percent.

This isn't the only recent information stating that aspirin may have preventative qualities. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology last month says that prostate cancer patients could also lessen their chances of dying by consuming aspirin every day. Over the course of a five-year study of almost 6,000 patients, scientists found that almost 10 percent of their control group died, while only 3 percent of individuals taking aspirin daily succumbed to prostate cancer.