Too much sun is the main cause of skin ageing. It also leads to the development of melanoma, the most malignant form of skin cancer. A recent study links aspirin use to a lower incidence of melanoma in women.
For decades, aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) has been used to lower the risk of heart disease and of bowel cancer, with millions of people around the world taking a small dose daily. The findings of a recent study published in Cancer would seem to attribute new benefits to the modest and traditional aspirin. The research was conducted in the USA over a period of 12 years on almost 60 000 postmenopausal women aged between 50 and 79 years. The results show that taking aspirin reduces the likelihood of melanoma – the most serious of the skin cancers – by 21%. No doubt this is good news, but further research is needed to confirm that these results are generally applicable. Meanwhile, just remember that the most important thing is to protect our skin from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. With or without aspirin
By Fede Montagud
Source: The Healthy Skin Blog and Cancer
