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Many people take daily aspirin for a number of reasons, with the approval of a medical professional, of course. Besides previous victims of heart attack or stroke, people with risk factors for a number of related conditions—smoking tobacco, high blood pressure or cholesterol, diabetes, arthritis, stress, family history of stroke or heart attack, lack of exercise—are advised to add a daily aspirin to their diet. Now there are indications that one little aspirin a day could provide some protection against the most common type of breast cancer-estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer-which makes up approximately three-quarters of the cases. And the study that determined this was done by none other than U.S. government researchers.
The research team was led by Gretchen Gierach, M.P.H., Ph.D., of the National Cancer Institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, and they published their AARP (formerly the American Association for Retired Persons) Diet and Health study in the BioMed Central journal called Breast Cancer Research. And the findings of the most recent research coincide with those of Columbia University researchers in 2004. Both found positive links between daily aspirin and a lower risk for estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer.
A total of over 127,000 women (AARP members) in the United States between and including the ages of 51 and 72 were studied, all of whom were cancer-free when the research was initiated and had no history or increased risk of cancer. At the time, about 18% were already taking a daily aspirin, and though most women reported the use of some type of aspirin product, most took aspirin less than once a week. Out of the large number of women who were tracked for seven years, from 1995 to 2003, about 4,500 of them developed breast cancer, and 3,703 of those cases were invasive.
The study was designed to explore the association of diet and health-related behaviors with cancer in older adults, but the connections between breast cancer patients and aspirin were outstanding. Findings indicated that women who took aspirin on a daily basis cut their risk of developing estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer by 16 percent.
The basic concept behind the theory is that this type of breast cancer is stimulated by estrogen and/or progestrone, and aspirin seems to interfere with this particular hormone's activity by blocking a particular enzyme and possibly reducing the amount of estrogen produced in the body. Thus, no relationship was found between aspirin and other types of breast cancer.
Aspirin is one of several drugs in the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAIDS) category, and the study attempted to test the effects of other NSAIDS on breast cancer as well, but none of the other drugs tested reduced the risk of hormone-positive breast cancer. It also seems that aspirin taken irregularly does not have any positive effect on the cancer and must be taken daily to be effective.
While the latest study is encouraging, it is far from conclusive. Other studies done in this category have proven inconclusive, but the fact that the 2004 study concurs with the 2008 AARP Diet and Health Study provide the necessary support to encourage further research, most specifically on the relationship between aspirin and breast cancer.
Daily aspirin should only be taken at the recommendation of a medical professional, as there are possible side effects from taking aspirin so regularly, such as ulcers and bleeding. There are also medicines that may negatively counteract the aspirin and cause problems, so it is highly important that a daily aspirin not be self-prescribed.
