I wrote last week in Doc of Ages (www.vintagefemail.blogspot.com) about the increasing evidence that regular use of aspirin can prevent cancer versus the pesky little problem of gastric hemorrhage which may occur without warning in aspirin users.

Over 5,000 British physicians and some 2,500 TIA victims in the UK just added the weight of their evidence on aspirin use and colon cancer risk. The conclusion? Five years of daily intake of 1 standard asprin tablet (325 mg) resulted in a 37% decrease in incidence of colorectal cancer, and 10 or more years led to an impressive 74% risk reduction.

Investigators noted that these studies showed a more robust chemopreventive effect for aspirin compared with earlier trials because the daily dose was higher. They also note that nothing has changed about that annoying little stomach bleeding thing from regular aspirin use, but perhaps these strong statistics mean that cancer prevention benefits outweigh those risks for high risk patient populations.