Probably Not!
When you take aspirin, you’re using one of our oldest medicines. Four-thousand-year-old clay tablets from the Assyrians suggested using willow leaves for joint pain.
Willow leaves contain salicylic acid – the natural substance that we use to make aspirin. Salicylic acid is also found in myrtle and meadowsweet.
Interestingly, the first recorded study on salicylic acid was done by an English clergyman who used willow bark to treat fever in 50 members of his congregation in the mid 1700’s. In 1897, aspirin was created from salicylic acid by a German chemist at Friedrich Bayer and Co (get it – Bayer aspirin!). It was the first synthetic drug ever made and thus the pharmaceutical industry was born. Interestingly, the head of the division where the drug was discovered tested it on himself first!
In the latter part of the 20th century, scientists learned more and more about aspirin’s ability to stop blood clotting.
Based off this observation and several studies, in 1988 cardiologists began giving aspirin to people who had heart attacks. In the early 2000’s, aspirin was recommended by various medical groups to people who had not experienced a heart attack.
Recently, doctors asked whether the benefits of aspirin outweighed the risks? They studied over 100,000 people to answer this question. In people who were unlikely to have heart attacks, they found that for every 10,000 people who took daily aspirin, they prevented 3 heart attacks but caused 21 major bleeding episodes. With those who were at high risk for heart attacks, aspirin prevented 49 heart attacks in 10,000 people but caused major bleeding in 98.
These doctors concluded that even though aspirin prevented heart attacks, the risks outweighed the benefits. This scientific study led to the many news headlines instructing people to stop taking daily aspirin if you’ve not had a heart attack.
So maybe the saying needs to be changed to, “An aspirin a day, keeps a gastroenterologist not far away.” I much prefer the line: “An avocado a day keeps the cardiologist away.”
Most people without heart disease should stop taking daily aspirin but as with any medical advice, it’s best to talk to your doctor.
Best talk to your doctor If your doctor keeps up on the latest medical literature. Such a tradition as “an aspirin a day” will take decades to undue if it’s even possible. People still believe you can’t eat seeds, popcorn, or nuts if you have diverticulitis. The real interesting thoughts are these; how long does it take medicine to adopt new recommendations especially given the speed of change in todays world and how many times has medicine changed their minds over the decades on what it recommends? If one studies the recommendations for the treatment of hypertension since it was recognized as a problem one would conclude that we are schizophrenic. The same came be said for bowel preps before colon surgery, or picking the right pressor for a septic patient in the ICU. I think unfortunately GI will be busy for many years to come. Good article. I hope the word gets disseminated.