“Lots of people struggle with their weight and this suggests the extra cancer risk can be cancelled by taking an aspirin”, added Burn. However, their study found that this risk could be counteracted by taking a regular dose of aspirin.
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A REGULAR dose of aspirin could reduce the risk of cancer in overweight people with the hereditary condition suffered by teenage fundraiser Stephen Sutton, an worldwide study has found. Their study of two hundred male and female tenth-graders found the more *supportive and positive* those interactions, the higher the psychosocial benefits into adulthood.
“Indeed, the obesity-associated risk was twice as great for people with Lynch Syndrome as for the general population”, he adds.
Conducted by Newcastle University and the University of Leeds, the research showed that the risk of bowel cancer in people with Lynch Syndrome increased by more than double because of being overweight.
“This is important for people with Lynch Syndrome but affects the rest of us too”, said Professor Sir John Burn, professor of Clinical Genetics at Newcastle University, who led the worldwide research collaboration.
After an average of almost five years, 55 of them had developed bowel cancer.
“CAPP2 has already produced valuable information, showing that for people with an inherited tendency to develop bowel cancer, their risk can be reduced by taking aspirin”. Patients with Lynch Syndrome saw their risk of bowel cancer increase by 7 per cent for every unit of BMI above what is considered healthy.
An estimated 40,000 metric tons of aspirin are consumed annually around the world.
Obesity increased the risk for people with faults in a gene called MLH1, yet the same effect was not seen in those carrying with errors in a different gene, MSH2. There is growing evidence to suggest that an increased inflammatory process is linked with an increased risk of cancer. “However, this needs to be shown in a further study to confirm the extent of the protective power of the aspirin with respect to BMI”, said Professor Tim Bishop from the University of Leeds. “However, for many patients this can be very hard so a simple aspirin may be able to help this group”, Mathers said. “But if there is a strong family history of cancer, then people may want to weigh up the cost-benefits, particularly as these days, drugs which block acid production in the stomach are available over the counter”.
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But participants who took aspirin had the same risk, whether or not they were obese.
