Aspirin and Cancer: A Surprising Discovery That Could Change Lives
Aspirin has been around for more than a century, prescribed by the billions for headaches, fever, and cardiovascular protection. But for the past two decades, a quieter body of research has been accumulating around a different question: could one of the world's most common medications also help prevent or treat cancer? The findings are among the more provocative in modern oncology — partly because the answer appears to be yes, for certain cancers, under certain conditions — and partly because the mechanisms are genuinely interesting. Here is a careful look at what the evidence shows, what it doesn't show, and what it might mean for everyday decisions about health. The Discovery That Started It All The link between aspirin and cancer prevention was not discovered by cancer researchers. It emerged from cardiovascular trials. When scientists began following large populations of people taking low-dose aspirin for heart attack and stroke prevention, they noticed something unexpe...