The pharmaceutical industry is desperately trying to find some drug that everyone can take to improve their health.
Right off, I’ll give you the conclusion from a recent 5-year study of daily aspirin for improving health in the elderly.
Aspirin use in healthy elderly persons did not prolong disability-free survival over a period of 5 years but led to a higher rate of major hemorrhage than placebo. (Funded by the National Institute on Aging and others, the ASPREE trial)
Effect of Aspirin on Disability-free Survival in the Healthy Elderly
I know that there is not one pill to prolong “disability-free survival” because of Natural Law. You cannot artificially manipulate the human body with a drug in a way that applies to everyone to prolong life.
What about quenching inflammation?
Even if inflammation is the problem, taking an aspirin daily to reduce inflammation is not the solution. I discussed that at length in the previous blog, Root Out Inflammation.
The bottom line is that inflammation is there initially for a reason. If is persists, healing has not happened, and stopping the inflammation is not healing, it is removing the signs that healing has not happened.
Confusion about aspirin
I have noticed a trend in elderly patients that show up in my office. They think that taking a daily baby aspirin will help them, and it can’t hurt them. They know other people their age taking a daily baby aspirin. Their Medicare MD may have told them that it may help and can’t hurt as well.
A lot of the confusion came from the original trials that showed that taking a low-dose aspirin daily can help people who have already had a heart attack.
Well, if it helps with the blood flow in people who have had a heart attack, then maybe we can prevent a heart attack by taking daily aspirin.
There is a lot of fear of a heart attack in people whose relatives have had heart attacks. Without considering anything else there is in common with those other family members, the fear drives people to take aspirin “for prevention.”
Studies have not shown a benefit in prevention of a heart attack.
In fact, what aspirin-takers are failing to take into account is the risk of bleeding as a side effect of aspirin. It has nothing to do whether the aspirin is buffered or coated. It has everything to do with the way aspirin affects constituents in the blood to thin it.
It may make sense to thin blood if there was a heart attack or stroke from a blood clot. Studies support that. However, that approach is under suspicion from the point of view of Natural Medicine.
Nevertheless, to “thin blood” can cause bleeding where you don’t want to bleed, as in the stomach or brain.
This recent study brought up these points by saying the following:
Aspirin has become one of the most popular agents used for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease, largely on the basis of results from studies of secondary prevention of myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke.
Large trials investigating primary cardiovascular prevention,22-32 mainly involving participants younger than those in the ASPREE trial, have not shown a consistent effect of aspirin on cardiovascular outcomes.
In many trials, the use of aspirin was accompanied by a higher bleeding risk, without any clear indication of overall benefit or harm.23,25-28
Effect of Aspirin on Disability-free Survival in the Healthy Elderly
Getting it straight
In the long run, I’m glad this kind of research is coming out and being announced in the major news media. However, it is a mixed blessing because many studies are contradicted by others, and people get confused. Or hear what they want to hear. At this time, there is no study that shows a benefit to healthy older adults to take low-dose aspirin.
This study points up the fact that people want to do something to support their “disability-free survival.” People want to live healthy into old age. Too bad it is not as easy as taking a pill a day.
Living healthy into old age takes creating healthy habits that are individualized to you, and individualized to the time of year and what is happening in your life. It takes paying attention to what creates health for you, and not looking for a “one-size-fits-all” solution. It is complex and always changing.
However, it it worth it for a vital and fulfilling life to find out what makes health for you, and get expert guidance to maintain it.
I am available for a complimentary session to discover what is holding you back from having the best years of your life – the ones that set the standard for health on all levels: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. For more information, see my Total Health for Professionals.
Remember, health goes way beyond popping a pill.
