Last week, the Lancet published the combined results of a larger observational study, also led by Professor Rothwell. This time, he and researchers examined eight studies that involved more than twenty-five thousand individuals.
They found that taking a small aspirin once a day reduced death rates from a number of common cancers. Taking seventy-five milligrams of aspirin daily for five years reduced the risk of bowel cancer by one-fourth. Deaths from the disease fell by one-third.