Not the magnesium at News Forum

A little more detail on the aspirin/cancer study. You will note that even the 75 mg aspirin worked too. None of the 75 or other low dose aspirin that I've seen are buffered. I seriously doubt that whether or not the 300 mg variety was required to be buffered was even a consideration.

Also notice in the 2nd article that just 1/4 aspirin with milk before bedtime for people over 45 cut "mortality" by 10%.

Then in the 3rd link you will find that aspirin is a wonder drug and that it prevents several cancers.

It's too easy, too simple, and nobody's making a buck on it (like garlic) so no wonder the naysayers are coming out of the woodwork.

Taking just two pills of aspirin a day can cut the risk of bowel cancer by almost two-thirds for those at the highest risk, research has found.

Thousands of lives could be saved if people with a particular hereditary condition took aspirin daily, suggests the British-led study.

Scientists have described the results, published in The Lancet, as "the icing on the cake" after more than two decades of research into aspirin's effect on cancer.

Today's study specifically looks at the preventative effect in those with a hereditary condition called Lynch Syndrome, thought to affect about 60,000 people in Britain. Despite being present in only one in 1,000 people, it is responsible for one in 30 bowel cancers.

But the researchers said the study added powerful new evidence that aspirin protected against bowel cancer in the wider population too.

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

The study of 861 middle-aged people with Lynch Syndrome found those who took two 300mg pills daily for two years, were 63 per cent less likely to have developed bowel cancer five years later, than those given a placebo.

The results are critical for those with the syndrome because their lifetime risk of developing bowel cancer is as high as one in two.

Professor Sir John Burn from Newcastle University, who led the international project, said he and colleagues were "very pleased" with the "impressive" results.

He and Professor Tim Bishop, of Leeds University, suggested those with Lynch Syndrome should start taking aspirin from the age of 20, as they can develop cancers well before middle age.

They estimated that, excluding the young and the very old, about 30,000 of them should be taking aspirin.

Prof Burn said: "If we were to put them on aspirin now, we would stop about 10,000 cancers over 30 years."

The results follow a landmark study led by Professor Peter Rothwell of Oxford University, published a year ago.

It found people taking low dose (75mg) aspirin daily for five years were 25 per cent less likely to have developed bowel cancer after 20 years than those not taking it.

The participants had been taking the drug to prevent heart disease and stroke. They were drawn from the general population, not just those with Lynch Syndrome.

Prof Rothwell consequently suggested everybody should consider taking low dose aspirin daily from the age of 45, although he said it was a matter for individuals to decide "rather than us making definitive statements".

Professors Burn and Bishop echoed that advice. They have already advised their patients and volunteers with Lynch Syndrome to take aspirin, and said others needed to consider the "sliding scale" of aspirin's benefits and risks depending on their circumstances.

The drug is known to increase slightly the chance of stomach and intestinal ulcers, particularly in the elderly.

While Prof Rothwell's work convinced many that aspirin helped prevent cancer, because it was an observational study it could not prove cause and effect.

Today's study was different, said Prof Burn, being "the first randomised controlled trial [of aspirin] undertaken with cancer as an end point".

The group now aims to determine the best dose for those with Lynch Syndrome and wants to recruit 3,000 people around the world to do so. They will be given either 600, 300, or 75mg daily.

David Willetts, the Universities and Science Minister, welcomed the "groundbreaking study" as "an excellent achievement for the UK research base".

He said: "It has the potential to save thousands of lives worldwide and is clear evidence of the value of long-term studies showing simple steps that can be taken to improve people's lives."

*The NHS will have to deal with 45 per cent more cancer cases by 2030, a leading charity is warning.

Cancer Research UK predicts the number will climb from about 298,000 in 2007 in 432,000 in 2030, which could "overwhelm NHS resources".

The biggest reason behind the rise is the ageing population, but changing lifestyles are also a factor. Cancers of the mouth, kidney and liver are forecast to be among the biggest risers, due in part to smoking and drinking.

Taking a quarter of an aspirin with milk just before you go to bed every night could reduce your chance of dying in middle age by a tenth, the biggest study into the drug has found.

The "exciting" evidence shows that the benefits of those aged over 45 regularly taking the cheap painkiller "drowns out" any side effects that could occur from the regular medication.

It is so compelling that the researchers are convinced it will lead to a change in public health prevention guidelines.

Doctors have known for a long time that aspirin, which thins the blood, can protect against heart disease and stroke but the latest research shows the "wonder drug" has an even stronger effect on cancer.

At the moment an increase in the risk of stomach and intestinal bleeding associated with the pill has scared many health experts off from recommending it to the healthy general public, but this new effect could tip the balance, claim the study authors.

Anyone with a family history of heart disease or cancer, would be especially helped by taking the painkiller as a preventive medicine.

A team of researchers led by Professor Peter Rothwell at Oxford University reviewed the data from eight separate trials on aspirin which together included 25,570 patients taking the drug regularly for on average four years.

They found that "all cause mortality" was reduced by 10 per cent for those taking a 75mg dose of the drug.

For individual cancers the effect could be even stronger. The 20-year risk for prostate cancer was reduced by about 10 per cent, for lung cancer 30 per cent, bowel cancer 40 per cent and oesophageal or throat cancer by 60 per cent.

The study, published in the Lancet, suggests greater aspirin use could potentially save thousands of lives a year in relation to cancer alone.

Combined, all cancers claim more than 150,000 lives in Britain every year, while cardiovascular disease accounts for some 200,000 deaths.

Prof Rothwell, 46, who started taking aspirin two years ago, said it was likely to have a major impact on public health – and be even more effective than screening.

"The size of the effect of cancer is that it does more or less drown out those sort of risks," he said.

"I think it is not for me the person who has done the research to make recommendations but I suspect that the guidelines will be updated as a result of these findings.

"It looks as though as there is a pretty large benefit in terms of reducing cancer and the risks are really pretty low.

Prof Rothwell believes that the sensible time to start taking aspirin would be in the early to mid 40s when the risk of cancers start to go up.

Prof Peter Elwood, of Cardiff University’s School of Medicine, conducted the first trial into the effect of aspirin on heart disease in the 1970s, started taking the drug about that time.

It is just latest claim for aspirin which was formulated as a painkiller more than a century ago. It is now linked with helping in diseases ranging from heart disease to cancer to dementia.

Advocates believe that its active ingredient is akin to a vitamin that almost everybody should take, as our modern diet does not provide it.

It is thought that it works in cancer because it boosts the body's ability to root out, repair or kill rogue cells that can develop into cancer.

The researchers believe that the optimal time for taking the tablet would be between 45 and 75 years old – before which the risk of cancer is to low – and after which the risk of internal bleeding is too high.

If taken with milk at night it could be even more effective as calcium is thought to boost aspirin's effect and the active ingredient of the pill is more powerful during sleep.

They believe that it would be effective against breast and ovarian cancers but there were too few patients studied to get a definitive result.

"Perhaps the most important finding for the longer-term is the proof of principle that cancers can be prevented by simple compounds like aspirin and that 'chemoprevention' is therefore a realistic goal for future research with other compounds," said Prof Rothwell.

Prof Alastair Watson, Professor of Translational Medicine at the University of East Anglia, said the study was a very important development.

"It is further proof that aspirin is, by a long way, the most amazing drug in the world," he said.

But the charity warned that patients should consult their GP before deciding to take aspirin daily because of the drug's side effects.

A spokesman for the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) said it would take into account the new evidence when reviewing it guidelines.

"We do review and update all our guidance on a regular basis, and if there is new evidence that we think might change any of our existing recommendations, then we will take that into account, " he said.

A Department of Health spokesman said: "We welcome this addition to the evidence base and note that more research is required before clear conclusions can be drawn on the implications for clinical practice."

Pregnant women with certain auto-immune conditions or high blood pressure are also prescribed low doses of aspirin to reduce the risk of miscarriage, pre-eclampsia, low birthweight and foetal death.

The latest research is now showing that aspirin can reduce the risk of several cancers including bowel, prostate, throat and lung and possibly breast and ovarian.

It is thought the way aspirin reduces the risk of some cancers is by blocking an enzyme called Cox2 which is drives some forms of cancer.

New research is emerging that aspirin may be beneficial in preventing dementia as well although it is inconclusive and more evidence is needed. This may be because of the reduction in strokes and associated damage and its anti-inflammatory effect which would protect the brain from build up of certain proteins associated with dementia.