The general saying is "an apple a day will keep the doctor away." But it turns out what they really meant was an Aspirin a day can keep cancer away.
Preventative measures for cancer are always being searched for. Every year, more than 8.2 million people die from cancer. If scientists were able to find something that could help prevent the disease, millions of lives could be saved.
One new study shows that Aspirin can drastically decrease your chances of getting cancer. Researchers studied more than 600,000 people, making it the largest cancer study to date.
They followed the patients and studied the links between taking Aspirin daily for seven years. The results they got back were promising.
"The findings demonstrate that the long-term use of aspirin can reduce the risk of developing many major cancers," said lead researcher Professor Kelvin Tsoi from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. "What should be noted is the significance of the results for cancers within the digestive tract, where the reductions in cancer incidence were all very substantial, especially for liver and oesophageal cancer."
These are the results of the study. The percentage indicates how much the risk of a certain cancer is reduced by.
Liver: 47%
Oesophageal: 47%
Gastric: 38%
Pancreatic: 37%
Lung: 35%
Colorectal: 34%
Leukemia: 24%
Prostate: 14%
The study also examined the effects on breast, bladder, kidney, and multiple myeloma cancers, but no correlation was found. However, a study at Cardiff University found that daily Aspirin intake can in fact increase the chance of surviving breast, bowel, and prostate cancer.
In addition to preventing cancer, Aspirin can also help prevent cardiovascular events, such as a heart attack or stroke.
Do you take Aspirin every day?