(02-04-12) Beware dangerous new advice to use daily aspirin to prevent cancer

by Tony Isaacs


(NaturalNews) Before anyone jumps on the latest mainstream media bandwagon and
begins taking daily aspirin to prevent cancer, there are several strong reasons
to hesitate. To begin with, the study which produced the media storm was flawed
and the claimed benefits are highly questionable.

The new aspirin study was conducted by Professor Peter Rothwell at the Stroke
Prevention Research Unit at Oxford University. According to the study, taking
an aspirin a day could reduce your risk of cancer within three years after
beginning the therapy. Only two years earlier, Professor Rothwell published a
previous study which suggested that protective benefits would be seen only
after 10 years of daily aspirin use.

The new findings are actually just a re-analysis of about 90 previously
published studies. For unexplained reasons, the new analysis failed to look at
several major US trials which failed to find any protective benefit from
aspirin. Also, the average dose of aspirin in the studies which were examined
was far above the recommended "safe" dose of 75 mg.

Professor Rothwell appears to have come full circle regarding aspirin. In 2007
he published a study which found that aspirin was a major cause of stroke in
the elderly and had caused a sevenfold increase in strokes over the past twenty
five years among elderly patients. At the time, he warned that aspirin could
soon replace high blood pressure as the leading cause of stroke among the
elderly.

Notably, Professor Rothwell has received honoraria for serving on advisory
boards, clinical trial committees and giving talks from some pharmaceutical
companies with an interest in anti-platelet agents, including Bayer,
AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Sanofi-BMS and Servier.

The catch is that there really is no safe dose of aspirin.
Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) is a synthesized version of a compound
originally discovered in willow bark. One of the more common dangerous side
effects of the regular use of aspirin is intestinal bleeding. Other side
effects include ulcers, kidney dysfunction, and stroke.

Here are just a few indications of how harmful aspirin can be:

* Researchers from Virginia Medical School, who examined medical records of
hospital deaths, estimated that the drug is killing around 20,000 in the US
alone.

* Randomized clinical trials testing aspirin in 5011 elderly people showed
that use of aspirin caused a 4-fold increase in hemorrhagic stroke and a 1.6-
to 1.8-fold increase in ischemic stroke.

* As noted in the 1999 Associated Press article titled "The Silent Epidemic",
death by analgesics (over the counter pain killers such as aspirin and other
NSAIDs) is the 15th most common cause of death in America.

* The American Journal of Medicine reported that conservative calculations
estimate that approximately 107,000 patients are hospitalized annually for
NSAID-related gastrointestinal complications and at least 16,500 NSAID-related
deaths occur each year among arthritis patients alone

* Each year 1600 children with Reye's syndrome and other allergies die from
taking aspirin.

* Rather than being a nutrient, aspirin is an anti-nutrient. It depletes the
body of life-saving nutrient folic acid as well as iron, potassium, sodium, and
vitamin C. Symptoms of folic acid depletion include anemia, birth defects,
elevated homocysteine (itself a significant heart disease risk factor),
fatigue, headache, insomnia, diarrhea, increased infection and hair loss.

Millions of people already take daily aspirin due to doctors' advice and
mainstream propaganda that daily aspirin will prevent heart attacks and
strokes. What aspirin does is enable thinner blood to be more easily pushed
through clogged arteries.

When it comes to preventing cancer, strokes, heart attacks and other illness,
by far the best and healthiest plan is to eat a healthy diet and lead an active
and healthy lifestyle.

Sources:

http://www.wddty.com
http://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(98)00072-2/abstract
http://stroke.ahajournals.org/content/29/5/887.full
http://www.wddty.com
http://the-health-gazette.com

News

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