Why A Daily Aspirin May Cut Your Risk Of Breast Cancer
(CBS4) - Some potentially good news if you are woman takes a daily aspirin for the prevention of heart disease. You may also be cutting your risk of breast cancer.
Researchers reporting in the Journal Breast Cancer Research looked at more than 57,000 women and found that those who took a daily aspirin were able to cut the risk of some of the most common forms of breast cancer by more than 20%.
There was no clear cause and effect between the aspirin and the development of tumors but the study suggests that aspirin may decrease inflammation and also counteract certain chemicals which may increase your risk of developing a tumor.
It was also not clear how long you would need to take the aspirin for the protective effect, but even women who took aspirin several days per week had a lower rate of cancer.
No similar affect was seen with other pain medications such as acetaminophen or naproxen.
Now this does not mean that every woman should begin regular aspirin for breast cancer prevention. We still have concerns about the risks versus benefits of aspirin therapy even when it comes to the prevention of heart disease. Regular aspirin does carry risk such as stomach or intestinal bleeding, for example. And we don't know what age you would need to begin the aspirin for possible protection for any breast cancer prevention.
Nonetheless, it does appear that we may soon be able to add breast cancer to a list of diseases that aspirin may help prevent such as heart disease, stroke, and colon cancer. At least we hope so.
This is one of those "check with your doctor first" kind of studies. More research is yet to come.
Dr. Dave Hnida is CBS4's Medical Editor. He blogs about the latest studies and trends in the health world. Read his latest blog entries, check out his bio or follow him on Twitter @drdavehnida
