New studies show that women who took aspirin and vitamin E for cancer and heart disease prevention did not experience any benefits. Meanwhile, a third study shows that aspirin may lower the risk of prostate cancer in men.
The first study was conducted over 10 years and examined 40,000 women. Half of the women took 100 milligrams of aspirin daily the other half a placebo. The study found that those taking aspirin had no lower rate of colorectal cancer or breast cancer, two of the more common deadly cancers in women.
The aspirin also failed to lower women's chances of contracting brain, ovaries and uterus. There was a slight improvement in lung cancer statistics but researchers claim this requires further investigation.
Dr. Julie Buring, the head researcher of the Women's Health Study told the Associated Press, 'We still have an unclear story.' She then added, 'We didn't go into this to find the dose that was most effective against cancer. Our question was: If you are already taking this very low dose for cardio protection, would it also be protective for cancer?'
In a separate study conducted by the same research team, vitamin E was found to have no effect in reducing heart disease or any type of cancer but it did have a 24 percent reduction in cardiovascular mortality much to the surprise of researchers.
The third study examined 70,000 men who took 325 milligrams of aspirin daily. Those who took the pain reliever were 18 percent less likely to develop prostate cancer than those who did not regularly take aspirin.
'The answer about prostate cancer is still not entirely clear and even if it did reduce risk, aspirin use has to be balanced against its serious side effects,’ Eric Jacobs, an epidemiologist at the American Cancer Society said.
Additional research is expected in all of these areas in the near future.
