Aspirin Now Officially Recommended For (colon) Cancer Prevention

[haidut]

It is only in the UK for now, but given how intertwined the health systems of most Western countries are I suspect it will soon spread to other health systems. Also, while the popular press article claims that the recommendation will only be for people with a specific genetic condition, the NHS UK website announcement makes it sound like it will be a recommendation for preventing ANY colon cancer, regardless of the type or underlying cause. It makes me sad that as groundbreaking changes to health care like these are made, studies are simultaneously pumped out calling for all people using aspirin preventatively to stop immediately due to the (overblown) bleeding risks.

Prescribe daily aspirin to prevent colorectal cancers, doctors told

"...Taking aspirin slashes the risk of cancer for hundreds of thousands of people with an inherited genetic condition, health chiefs have said. Carriers of Lynch Syndrome, which affects roughly one in 300 people, would gain significant protection against bowel, rectal and colon cancers from the daily pill, according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice). Roughly four in five who carry the genes develop one of these forms of the disease - known collectively as colorectal cancer. However, trials have indicated that daily aspirin can cut the risk by up to 60 per cent. It is the first time Nice, which determines what drugs and treatments must be offered on the NHS, has recommended aspirin as a preventative treatment for cancer."

"...Dr Paul Chrisp, director of the Centre for Guidelines at NICE, said: “The independent committee looked at evidence from a multi-country randomised controlled trial, which showed taking daily aspirin for more than two years reduces the risk of colorectal cancer in people with Lynch Syndrome. “While there are risks associated with long-term aspirin use, the committee agreed that the benefits are likely to outweigh any potential harms."

 

[ecstatichamster]

Aspirin lowers colorectal cancer incidence by 70% in another large study I saw.

Screening with colonoscopies and occult fecal blood tests only lower death by colorectal cancer by 18%, and don’t lower all cause mortality.

You need to take about one full aspirin tablet a day though. The “baby aspirin” doesn’t cut it when it comes to reducing CR cancer risk.

I take a gram of aspirin 2 or 3 times a week and I think this is highly protective.

 

[haidut]

Aspirin lowers colorectal cancer incidence by 70% in another large study I saw.

Screening with colonoscopies and occult fecal blood tests only lower death by colorectal cancer by 18%, and don’t lower all cause mortality.

You need to take about one full aspirin tablet a day though. The “baby aspirin” doesn’t cut it when it comes to reducing CR cancer risk.

I take a gram of aspirin 2 or 3 times a week and I think this is highly protective.

Yep, and in fact taking aspirin can replace the colonoscopies altogether.
Aspirin Can Fully Replace Your Annual Colonoscopy

 

[LucyL]

It makes me sad that as groundbreaking changes to health care like these are made, studies are simultaneously pumped out calling for all people using aspirin preventatively to stop immediately due to the (overblown) bleeding risks.

My primary care physician said that based on those types of studies, he stopped his daily aspirin recommendation to his patients, and within a month two had strokes and one had a heart attack. It really upset him, and he went back to the recommendations. The everyday doctors are victimized by this crap too.

 

[ecstatichamster]

1g - 2g a week cuts the likelihood of colorectal cancer down 2/3. There is nothing that effective for prevention including the colonoscopies.

 

[ubiety]

I like taking aspirin for this prevention, and for other reasons. The problem is that every time I take aspirin (as little as 160 mg), it makes my dry/flaky skin much worse. Any thoughts about why or how to address that?

 

[Kartoffel]

1g - 2g a week cuts the likelihood of colorectal cancer down 2/3. There is nothing that effective for prevention including the colonoscopies.

How would colonoscopy help to prevent cancer? If anything, a colonoscopy will increase the likelihood of cancerization.

 

[ecstatichamster]

the idea of colonoscopy is as a prevention device by snipping "pre cancerous" polyps while they are there...that is what makes it such a hot idea today...

 

[Experienced]

1g - 2g a week cuts the likelihood of colorectal cancer down 2/3. There is nothing that effective for prevention including the colonoscopies.

How exactly do we have to take aspirin? People always talk about having strokes or heartattacks of aspirin? How come that they conclude those stuff.

 

[ecstatichamster]

How exactly do we have to take aspirin? People always talk about having strokes or heartattacks of aspirin? How come that they conclude those stuff.

I think vitamin K2 MK4 is necessary to be safe with aspirin.

Also H. Pylori infection in the stomach makes aspirin more dangerous. That can be countered with a tablespoon of honey on an empty stomach every day for a week.

Taking aspirin with ascorbic acid, niacinamide, collagen and baking soda all dissolved so no aspirin tablets or pieces are in contact with delicate digestive linings

All this makes aspirin quite safe.

 

[ExCarniv]

This is good news, my dad had colon cancer a couple years ago.

Do you think regular Bayer's aspirin are ok? There is not other option in my country, no aspirin powders are available

 

[Experienced]

This is good news, my dad had colon cancer a couple years ago.

Do you think regular Bayer's aspirin are ok? There is not other option in my country, no aspirin powders are available

Alka seltzer.

 

[aliml]

First trial to prove a diet supplement can prevent hereditary cancer

A trial in people with high hereditary risk of a wide range of cancers has shown a major preventive effect from resistant starch, found in a range of foods such as oats and slightly green bananas.

ncl.ac.uk

An international trial - known as CAPP2 – involved almost 1000 patients with Lynch syndrome from around the world and revealed that a regular dose of resistant starch, also known as fermentable fibre, taken for an average of two years, did not affect cancers in the bowel but did reduce cancers in other parts of the body by more than half. This effect was particularly pronounced for upper gastrointestinal cancers including oesophageal, gastric, biliary tract, pancreatic and duodenum cancers.
The astonishing effect was seen to last for 10 years after stopping taking the supplement.
The study, led by experts at the Universities of Newcastle and Leeds, published today in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, is a planned double blind 10 year follow–up, supplemented with comprehensive national cancer registry data for up to 20 years in 369 of the participants.
Previous research published as part of the same trial, revealed that aspirin reduced cancer of the large bowel by 50%.
“We found that resistant starch reduces a range of cancers by over 60%. The effect was most obvious in the upper part of the gut,” explained Professor John Mathers, professor of Human Nutrition at Newcastle University. “This is important as cancers of the upper GI tract are difficult to diagnose and often are not caught early on.
“Resistant starch can be taken as a powder supplement and is found naturally in peas, beans, oats and other starchy foods. The dose used in the trial is equivalent to eating a daily banana; before they become too ripe and soft, the starch in bananas resists breakdown and reaches the bowel where it can change the type of bacteria that live there.
“Resistant starch is a type of carbohydrate that isn’t digested in your small intestine, instead it ferments in your large intestine, feeding beneficial gut bacteria – it acts in effect, like dietary fibre in your digestive system. This type of starch has several health benefits and fewer calories than regular starch. We think that resistant starch may reduce cancer development by changing the bacterial metabolism of bile acids and to reduce those types of bile acids that can damage our DNA and eventually cause cancer. However, this needs further research.”
Professor Sir John Burn, from Newcastle University and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust who ran the trial with Professor Mathers, said: “When we started the studies over 20 years ago, we thought that people with a genetic predisposition to colon cancer could help us to test whether we could reduce the risk of cancer with either aspirin or resistant starch.
“Patients with Lynch syndrome are high risk as they are more likely to develop cancers so finding that aspirin can reduce the risk of large bowel cancers and resistant starch other cancers by half is vitally important.
“Based on our trial, NICE now recommend Aspirin for people at high genetic risk of cancer, the benefits are clear – aspirin and resistant starch work.”