A new study conducted in Denmark has revealed that taking a few aspirins a day has the potential to lower the risk of colorectal cancer.
According to a Reuters, researchers used data from more than 100,000 individuals to study the relationship between non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and aspirin during the treatment of colorectal cancer.
The new study has revealed that taking small doses of aspirin for a prolonged time frame of at least five years had the potential to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer by more than 20 percent while using non-aspirin NSAIDs for the same amount of time revealed that the risk of cancer can be reduced by 30 percent.
Heading the study, Dr. Soren Friis who works in Copenhagen for the Danish Cancer Society Research Center told the news agency that taking a low dose of aspirin continuously is what the study has revealed about protecting users against colorectal cancer. He said merely taking aspirin occasionally had little effect.
Further quoting the National Cancer Institute, the report said the risk of developing the condition is dependent on age, ethnicity, race and lifestyle with more than 90 percent of individuals older than 50 being diagnosed with the disease.
Meanwhile, according to Medscape experts have recently declared that the benefits of taking aspirin daily to prevent certain forms of cancer outweighed the possible harms of using the drug for a long period.
In a statement, Dr Jack Cuzick of the Centre for Cancer Prevention at Queen Mary's University revealed that taking aspirin daily "looks to be the most important thing we can do to reduce cancer after stopping smoking and reducing obesity."
Dr Cuzick adds in the statement that the studies he has engaged in have revealed that if indivdulas between the age of 50 and 60 begin taking aspirin daily for 10 years there would be a reduction in the number of patients with cancer, stroke and heart attacks.