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# Take aspirin to prevent cancer? Here are some better things to do
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/take_aspirin_to_prevent_cancer_0323120901/
- Published: 2012-03-23T11:03:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T16:23:13.000Z
- Description: Lancet papers reported that daily aspirin may cut cancer death risk by 15 percent, but the piece notes serious internal bleeding risk doubles in the first three years while any anti-cancer effect appears only after three, and that the Women's Health and Physicians' Health studies found no benefit.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Drug, Health News, #vivvo-import

By David Liu PHD

Friday March 23, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Media reports say three articles by Peter Rothwell at the University of Oxford in England and others and published in the Lancet and Lancet Oncology claimed that taking aspirin daily may reduce cancer death risk by 15 percent, colorectal and gastrointestinal cancer risk by 38 percent and reduce the risk of metastasis or spread of cancer by 30 to 40 percent.

NPR reported that aspirin comes with serious adverse effects including internal bleeding and ulcers. Studies were cited as saying that the risk of serous internal bleeding doubled in the first three years of taking daily aspirin while the effect of anti-cancer showed up only after three years. That meant that you will have to suffer serious medical conditions to prevent cancer.

Still, the articles may not have a final say about whether taking aspirin could indeed prevent cancer. NPR cited other studies that were not included in the studies recently reported in the Lancet found no link between taking aspirin and cancer reduction. For instance, 40,000 women in the Women's Health Study who took low-dose aspirin daily for 10 years were not found to have reduced risk for cancer death, not even a reduced risk for developing colon cancer. The same negative results were found in the Physicians' Health Study which enrolled 22,017 men who took regular strength aspirin daily for five years.

In a word, it is still not clear whether taking daily aspirin could reduce risk of any cancer or cancer death. And further research is needed to confirm the claims. Even if it is confirmed in the end that taking aspirin can moderately reduce the risk of cancer and cancer death, one needs to consider the adverse effects.

Here are some other things food consumers may do to prevent cancer:

1) Avoid eating red meat and processed meat, dairy products and added sugar; Meat products have been associated with increased risk for many types of cancer;

2) Take vitamin D and C supplements in high doses; Vitamin D may reduce risk of breast cancer by 75 percent for instance;

3) Avoid ionizing radiations such as x-ray used in diagnosis and treatment; x-ray is officially recognized by the National Toxicology Program as a human carcinogen.

4) Use anti-angiogenesis foods; Many foods prevent cancer.

5) Avoid working at night; 

6) Avoid medications particularly hormone-based medications; Estrogen promotes growth of breast cancer;

7) Do moderate physical exercise; Physical inactivity is linked to high risk of cancer;

8) Avoid exposure to heavy traffic, air pollution, pesticides, insecticides and herbicides and other environmental pollutants;

9) Don't smoke and drink alcohol. It is well known that tobacco smoke is linked to lung cancer and alcoholic beverages are an officially recognized carcinogen.

10) Be happy and keep in mind that you are not going to live in the earthly world forever; Happy people tend to live longer.