Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

The latest news about the protective effect of aspirin against a range of common cancers is cause for quiet celebration.

Anyone around 45 years of age now has another potential weapon to help minimise their risk of developing cancer. We already know it's important to avoid becoming overweight and drinking too much alcohol, now taking a daily dose of aspirin looks a sensible step to take for many.

If the are right, then taking just 75mg of aspirin for five years or more can have a dramatic effect.

In their paper, published in , a team from and other centres looked at data from some 25,000 patients, mostly from the UK.

The figures are impressive, with aspirin cutting overall cancer deaths by at least one fifth over 20 years.

Apparently, aspirin is best absorbed if taken at night and with calcium. So a 75mg dose along with a glass of milk (which might also dampen down stomach irritation) looks likely to become a common bedtime ritual. Though you have to stick at it for at least five years to see any benefit, the researchers say.

They stop short of urging healthy people to take aspirin because it is known to increase the risk of internal bleeding. But they say the new findings shift the risk-benefit balance in favour of taking it.

Of course there are some who should not just go ahead and self-medicate. In fact, everyone is being advised to talk to their GP first.

Aspirin can interact with other medicines, and anyone under 16; people prone to asthma, allergies, liver, kidney or digestive problems; pregnant or breast-feeding women and those with a stomach ulcer or bleeding disorders should certainly not start taking aspirin without professional advice.

Talking to the lead researcher, Professor Peter Rothwell of Oxford University, I wondered how he thinks aspirin performs its apparently remarkable feat.

He reminded me of our body's natural ability to stop the uncontrollable growth of cells, which is essentially what cancer is.

This cell death, or "apoptosis", is a normal, programmed process by which cells die to allow new, healthy tissue to grow.

"There's great interest in the effect of aspirin on the control of the development of cells that are beginning to be abnormal. Aspirin enhances this process... the ability of cells to self-regulate," he said.

He even hinted that aspirin might have an effect against cancers that have already started to develop, that is as a potential treatment as well as a preventative: "We should have more data on that in the next few months."

Prof Rothwell wants the (NICE), or perhaps the cancer charities, to come up with guidelines to help people decide if they should take aspirin everyday, or not.

He does not think advice should come from the scientists who did the work.

"I think some kind of national advice would be helpful. In general, there aren't situations where we insist... even on folic acid we only advise women to take it. On personal decisions about prevention, it's difficult to be dogmatic, but I'm 46 and I take aspirin myself", Prof Rothwell said.

So far, to the research.

Evidence to support the incredible value of aspirin has been increasing in recent years. We already knew it could be helpful for some people to protect against heart disease and stroke. Prof Rothwell says its protective signal for cancer is even stronger.

And encouragingly, it seems to work especially well against so-called adenocarcinomas. These are cancers linked to glandular tissue, and a type that is on the increase.