Need Information To Help Decide Whether To Take Aspirin

[Sharbysyd]

I'm considering taking aspirin as a cancer preventative. My mom had breast cancer (and passed seven years later) and I saw an article which said that there was a slight increase in breast cancer when taking aspirin:

Long-term use of low-dose aspirin for cancer prevention: A 10-year population cohort study in Hong Kong. - PubMed - NCBI

Some of the symptoms I have had: fatigue, sleep issues, blood sugar issues which cause sleep issues, mood issues and fatigue, overweight (grew up slender, weight went up in 20s), pain in feet and other parts of body when walking,

Hashimoto's, Sleep Apnea

Thanks for any info or advice.

 

[miki14]

Quote from your study:

Risk of breast cancer was shown to marginally increase (RR: 1.14) with aspirin usage. This study demonstrated that the long-term use of low-dose aspirin is associated with the reduction in risk of various cancers but not for breast cancer.

A marginal increase means nothing. You want to see a big increase before you start worrying about a drug. It's a statistical term, don't avoid Aspirin.

Just Avoid Pufa.

Do you have a diagnose for Hashimoto?

 

[olive]

Olive leaf extract can achieve the benefits of aspirin (inhibition of prostaglandins) with a better side effect profile.

 

[ecstatichamster]

Olive leaf extract can achieve the benefits of aspirin (inhibition of prostaglandins) with a better side effect profile.

Any evidence for this?

 

[tankasnowgod]

I'm considering taking aspirin as a cancer preventative. My mom had breast cancer (and passed seven years later) and I saw an article which said that there was a slight increase in breast cancer when taking aspirin:

Long-term use of low-dose aspirin for cancer prevention: A 10-year population cohort study in Hong Kong. - PubMed - NCBI

Some of the symptoms I have had: fatigue, sleep issues, blood sugar issues which cause sleep issues, mood issues and fatigue, overweight (grew up slender, weight went up in 20s), pain in feet and other parts of body when walking,

Hashimoto's, Sleep Apnea

Thanks for any info or advice.

I don't know why that study would be of any concern to you. First of all, the median dose of aspirin was really low (only 80mg, basically a baby aspirin), and the overall incidence of cancer was lower in the group that was prescribed aspirin.

Oh, and maybe check out if you can get aspirin over the counter in Hong Kong. If you can, well, then you really don't know how many members of the "non aspirin" group were taking the same or higher doses of aspirin than the "aspirin" group.

And the fact that certain groups were "prescribed" aspirin also suggests that there was possibly a concern for higher cancer risk in that group to start with.

Bottom line, there are a lot of confounders out there that this study simply can't control for, and even having said all that, it appears overall incidence of cancer is lower in the aspirin group. Would you be happy if you avoided breast cancer, but simply got liver or stomach cancer instead?

 

[Sharbysyd]

Thanks for all of the responses. I guess with the slight increase it really wouldn't matter. The reason it stood out to me, which I forgot to mention, was that my (late) mother had breast cancer in her late 60s. But I'm doing everything I can go avoid that. I do keep my PUFAs down as much as possible. I haven't really specifically tracked them but my diet consists mostly of eggs, 1% milk and orange juice, with once a week liver and onions fried in coconut oil and a few other things here and there. We got to buffets sometimes but I try to pick the dishes I believe have the least PUFAs.

Yes, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's.