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| Skeletal Structure of Aspirin, featuring skeletal representations of the benzene ring, double bonds and OH group. |
Today the front page of the BBC News' Health section proclaimed that "Daily dose of aspirin can prevent or even treat cancer". Along with many others I'm sure, I excitedly began reading the article, as surely anything even suggesting a "cure" for cancer is very engrossing news indeed, even in early research stages. I recommend reading the article in full, and if you're interested take a look over the three new research papers published by the medical journal The Lancet. Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) has been used for many years as a painkiller. It can be antipyretic (reduces fever), anti-inflammatory (reduces inflammation) and analgesic (relieves pain). However leading the headline of the BBC article is, it does not hide the harmful side effects (which you can see in full here) of taking aspirin on a regular basis, which include internal bleeding.
It seems that the crucial advice one can take from this news is that whoever is thinking of taking a daily aspirin should talk it over with their GP due to the risk of the side effects. Likewise, critics of the study have pointed out that some of the doses given in the study were much higher than the 75mg dose typically given in the UK. Also, some very large US studies looking at aspirin use were not included in the analysis. The researchers acknowledge both of these points in their published papers.
While I too am excited by the prospect of the new evidence and more studies to follow, I hope that the article on the front page of the BBC News Health section does not prompt anyone to rush out to buy and self-administer daily aspirin without first consulting their GP and talking it over with the health professional who knows them best.
Thank you for reading!
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