The Food and Drug Administration is warning against using aspirin to prevent initial heart attacks. The agency has just rejected a request by the Bayer company to modify its aspirin label so that healthy people could take the drug to lower their risk of a cardiac event or a stroke.
Not only did the FDA refuse the label change, but the feds went so far as to caution the American public against using aspirin as a routine preventive medication. The agency said that the possibility of dangerous bleeding is too high. (Other downsides of regular aspirin use include an increased risk of gastrointestinal irritation and ulcers.) The FDA acknowledged that people who already have diagnosed heart disease can lower their likelihood of a cardiovascular event by taking low-dose aspirin.
A study reported at the American Heart Association Meeting in 2013 suggested that the heart prevention effects may be maximized if low-dose aspirin is taken at bedtime rather than in the morning.
The FDA did not mention a large body of research demonstrating that regular aspirin use can lower the likelihood of developing a number of common cancers: colon, ovarian, esophagus, lung, breast, prostate, stomach and skin cancers have all been studied.
There is information about the pros and cons of aspirin in our free Guide to Key Aspirin Information.
