An aspirin a day could dramatically cut people''s chances of getting and dying from common cancers, according to the most detailed review yet of the cheap drug''s ability to stem disease.
More than 130,000 deaths would be avoided over a 20-year period if Britain''s 50- to 64-year-olds took a daily aspirin for 10 years, because the beneficial effects continue even when the aspirin is stopped, the authors say.
A research team led by Professor Jack Cuzick, head of the centre for cancer prevention at Queen Mary University of London, concluded that people between 50 and 65 should consider regularly taking the 75mg low-dosage tablets.
Cuzick said that taking aspirin "looks to be the most important thing we can do to reduce cancer after stopping smoking and reducing obesity, and will probably be much easier to implement".
In a briefing to journalists, the scientist added that he had been dosing himself for the last four years, keeping the tablets beside his bed. "I take aspirin as part of a bedtime ritual every day and I can achieve that quite easily," he said.
However, to obtain the newfound benefits of the drug, people would have to take aspirin for at least five years and probably 10, the review said.
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