Aspirin is a wonder drug in the magical land of Oz
Time to release the flying monkeys on Dr. Oz.
A friend of mine told me she’s going to start taking two baby aspirin every day. Dr. Oz told her to. Apparently this is his recommendation for everyone over the age of 40.
Why take two? A couple of years ago in an online chat for Readers Digest, Dr. Oz said, “The reason we give two rather than one is that many Americans are resistant to aspirin. And because the side effects are so minor, it makes sense to give double the dose.”
First of all…Many Americans are resistant to aspirin? That’s a truly bizarre comment. Europeans? Africans? Asians? No resistance there? What mysterious mojo is going on here that makes “many” of us resistant to aspirin?
And the side effects are so minor, it makes sense to double the dose?
Oz, don’t you read those mainstream medical journals that come in the mail? You really should.
If you go back and check the March 7, 2005 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, you’ll find the results of a 10-year study. In a group of more than 39,000 healthy women over the age of 45 with no cardiovascular problems, half took 100 mg of aspirin every other day and half took placebo tablets.
Results: Aspirin provided no protection from heart attack and only a slightly reduced risk of ischemic stroke. Side effects: In the aspirin group, risk of gastrointestinal bleeding severe enough to require transfusions was 40 percent higher than placebo!
And that was with 100 mg. You’re recommending 162 mg every day.
Two years later, a British Medical Journal study showed that elderly people who took a low dose of aspirin daily had a sharply increased risk of bleeding in the brain or the gastrointestinal tract.
This cannot be said often enough: ASPIRIN SAFETY IS A MYTH!
Aspirin is a drug. Period. When this drug is taken every day, year after year, it increases risk of GI conditions such as bleeding and ulcers, kidney impairment, and hypertension in women.
Don’t buy the hype, even when it’s from good-looking TV doctors like Oz.
To Your Good Health,
Jenny Thompson
