Aspirin Can Reduce Colon Cancer Risk by Up to 27%

People who take aspirin on a fairly regular basis have significantly less chances of developing colon cancer than those who either take aspirin every once in a while, or do not take it at all.

A new investigation, whose findings were published in this June 26's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, has revealed that, most of the time, those who regularly pop aspirins have roughly 27% less chances of getting colon cancer.

The only catch is that the drug makes them less vulnerable to said medical condition if they do not have a mutation in a gene scientists call BRAF.

As long as the mutation is there, aspirin does little to fight back the onset of cancer, a press release issued by the American Medical Association explains.

“The association of aspirin tablets per week with cancer risk differed significantly by BRAF mutation status.

“Compared with individuals who reported no aspirin use, a significantly lower risk of BRAF-wild-type cancer was observed among individuals who used 6 to 14 tablets of aspirin per week and among those who used more than 14 tablets of aspirin per week,” the researchers write in their paper.

The link between regular aspirin intake and lower cancer risk was established by looking into the medical records of 1,226 patients diagnosed with rectal and colon cancer.

In their paper, the researchers stress the fact that, although aspirin slashes a person's risk of getting rectal and/or colon cancer provided that they do not have a BRAG mutation, the drugs yields virtually no benefits after a diagnosis.

Otherwise put, aspirin seems unable to halt or at least slow down the growth of tumors.

“There was no statistically significant interaction between post-diagnosis aspirin use and BRAF mutation status in colorectal cancer-specific or overall survival analysis.

“This suggests that the potential protective effect of aspirin may differ by BRAF status in the early phase of tumor evolution before clinical detection but not during later phases of tumor progression,” the scientists explain.