Does aspirin have a surprising new health benefit?

Taking aspirin may significantly reduce your chances of developing cancer according to scientists from the Universities of Newcastle and Leeds, England.

LONDON, ENGLAND (Catholic Online) - The results of the research are published Friday in the medical journal, the Lancet. The results show that patients who have a history of cancer in their families, and take aspirin every day for a number of years, have 63 percent lower chance of developing the disease.

The authors of the study explained that they had long suspected this link, and that evidence supporting it has been growing, however, this is the first proper scientific test that has evaluated the effect of aspirin on cancer risk.

The study shows that it has a significant preventative effect on cancer, but that fact doesn't kick in until after several years of regular use.

The study tracked almost 1000 patients from 16 different countries. Some of the patients were followed for more than 10 years. The trial focused on individuals with a condition known as Lynch syndrome. Lynch syndrome is a rare inherited disorder that increases a person's risk of developing colon cancer, and other cancers such as skin, brain, and many others. Increased risk is caused by mutations that prevent proper DNA repair in cells. Approximately half of all people with Lynch syndrome can be expected to develop cancer.

The study followed 161 individuals who took either two aspirins a day or a placebo, beginning at different times between 1999 and 2005. By 2007 scientist found no difference in risk between the two groups however, researchers continued to monitor the groups. By 2010, they detected 34 new cases of colon cancer in the placebo group, compared to 19 in the aspirin group.

Researchers found that the longer the study ran, the greater the difference between the cancer risk in the two groups.

Scientists aren't certain what mechanism is responsible for the difference, but they suspect that it could be because aspirin encourages programmed cell death; which could be the reason why cancer cannot take hold in the body of a person who is predisposed to cancer -- properties of the aspirin may be causing those cells to die early rather than multiply.

Scientists stress that further studies are needed to confirm the results and determine precisely why aspirin makes the difference it appears to make.

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