It is a painkiller, it helps prevent heart attacks - and now it appears prolonged use of aspirin can even stop people from getting cancer.

If it was developed today, the century-old drug might struggle to get through clinical trials because it can cause major damage to the lining of the stomach along with severe internal bleeding.



But a major study published yesterday gave yet another reason to keep making aspirin, which is also used to treat strokes and cataracts and boost the chances of having a baby while undergoing IVF treatment.



Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston studied more than 80,000 female nurses who took part in a major health study for more than 20 years.



They found that taking aspirin at least twice a day for more than ten years lowered the risk of getting colon cancer by 53 per cent, according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Taking a lower dose of between one and two pills a day resulted in a 22 per cent lower risk.



However the researchers estimated that for every one or two cases of cancer prevented by taking high doses of aspirin, about eight people would develop serious gastro-intestinal bleeding.



Dr Andrew Chan, of Massachusetts General Hospital, who was the lead author of the scientific paper on the study, said: “Our study did find a protective effect of long-term aspirin use on risk of invasive colorectal cancer, but only at dosage levels considerably higher than those used to prevent cardiovascular disease.” Heart disease patients tend to take “baby” aspirin, which is one-quarter of the dose of full-strength aspirin, daily.



Previous research has linked aspirin with preventing the recurrence of colon cancer, but this is the first time it has been shown to reduce the risk of getting the disease in the first place and what strength of dose is required to have a significant effect.



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