by Fran Moriarty

Created on: August 26, 2009   Last Updated: August 28, 2009

Doctors and nurses do it! And they recommend everyone else does it too! Health care professionals recommend that their patients take an aspirin each day. The reasons are simple: Aspirin is a panacea. It prevents controls and cures a legion of ailments. It is packaged as an over-the-counter medicine with a host of aliases from Arthritis Pain to Zorprin.

Aspirin is a century old remedy used for headaches, pain, fever, colds, flu, and arthritis. Since its development in the later part of the 18th century, this pill has provided relief to young and old alike. In the last 20 years the benefit of this wonder drug has been studied as a preventative of strokes and heart attacks. Most recently a link between treatment of colon cancer and aspirin has been studied.

Using physicians as the "lab rats," Charles Hennekens conducted a study of 22,000 doctors. The study was designed to determine if a link existed between daily use of aspirin and cardiovascular disease. The data collected indicated that it reduced heart attacks and strokes by as much as 50%. A few years later a summary review of 300 aspirin studies confirmed Hennekens' findings (An aspirin a day keeps the doctor at bay <http://almaz.com/nobel/medicine/aspirin.html>). An aspirin-a-day policy has become a regiment of treatment for those susceptible to heart disease.

The most recent investigations have revealed a link between colon cancer treatment and aspirin. CBS news reports that a study of 1300 colorectal cancer patients showed a decline in deaths of those that were taking aspirin. The benefit of aspirin used in cancer patient treatment may reduce deaths by as much as 29% (Aspirin May Cut Colon Cancer Death Risk - CBS News <http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/11/health/mai n5235328.shtml>). The benefits of Aspirin continue to be discovered. What new discoveries will be identified in the years to come?

Numerous prescription drugs are available that treat inflammation, fever, pain, heart attack, strokes and cancer. Prescription drugs are necessary treatments for specific ailments that aspirin are unable to affect. For example, Aspirin is a common treatment for arthritis. It acts as an anti-inflammatory drug to reduce swelling and the subsequent pain. It helps control the ordinary pains and aches of arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis is a severe arthritic disease that requires prescription drugs that provide more relief than aspirin offers. In less severe cases, the drugs offered on a prescription

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