Aspirin ‘reduces cancer rates’

A trial was carried out on 861 people worldwide who had Lynch Syndrome, the gene that predisposes them to bowel cancer. Their lifetime risk of developing bowel cancer is as high as one in two.

For two years, half the trial patients were given two 300mg aspirins a day, the others placebos. After five years, the results showed that there was a 63 per cent reduction in cancer in those who were taking the aspirin.

Professor John Burn from Newcastle University, who led the study which was published in The Lancet stated they were now in a position to recommend aspirin to people in this high-risk category.

“If they can tolerate aspirin then they will benefit significantly with a huge reduction in cancer,” he said.

The scientists now aim to determine the ideal dose for those with Lynch Syndrome and they want to recruit 3,000 people around the world to do so. They will be given either 600, 300, or 75mg daily.

Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in Britain, with 40,000 new cases annually and over 16,000 deaths.

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Submited at Saturday, October 29th, 2011 at 5:00 am on Health by froskey
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