Daily aspirin to lower number requiring bowel cancer treatment from private medical cover provider?

A daily low dose of aspirin could see a reduction in the number of people requiring bowel cancer treatment from their private medical cover provider.

According to a report published in the Lancet, people who take low-dose aspirin every day (75mg to 300mg) are a quarter less likely to develop bowel cancer, and almost a third less likely to die from it.

It has previously been thought that high doses of aspirin can protect against the disease, but this carries risks of serious side-effects such bleeding in the stomach.

The researchers looked at four trials involving over 14,000 people in the UK and Sweden, comparing people with an average age of 60 who took low-dose aspirin with those who were given a placebo.

They found that, not only do low doses prevent bowel cancer, the benefits of taking aspirin also increased with the length of time people took it for.

Commenting on the study, Dr Virginia Warren, assistant medical director at private medical cover provider Bupa, said: "The researchers' analysis shows that if large numbers of middle aged people in developed Northern European countries take low-dose aspirin daily, for at least two and a half years, the number of new cases of bowel cancer will fall subsequently."

It follows the recent news that NHS regulator Nice has confirmed it is not approving funding for bowel cancer drug Avastin.

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