Don’t pop even one more aspirin until you read this urgent warning

The squirrel solution

Here’s a foolproof way to keep squirrels out of a birdfeeder. Stuff the birdfeeder with oily rags. Set it on fire. Done. No squirrels.

But you would have to be crazy to do that, right?

It’s almost as crazy as trying to prevent dementia by taking a drug that increases risk of fatal brain bleeding.

The difference is that many people who would laugh at the squirrel solution will be completely signed on with the dementia solution.

An achievable goal

“Aspirin may be the ultimate wonder drug.”

Whenever you read an article that starts with an absurd sentence like that, brace yourself. It’s time to break out the heavy duty baloney deflectors. Because it’s about to get deep.

A recent Yahoo Health article leads off with that “wonder drug” sentence. After that, there’s some pie-in-the sky business about how aspirin helps prevent heart attacks, strokes, and cancer. AND… “may even help stave off Alzheimer’s disease, researchers report.”

Well…no. That’s not REALLY what researchers report.

In a new study from Sweden, researchers gave memory tests to 680 older women with high cardiovascular disease risk. Five years later, they gave the same tests. Women who took low-dose aspirin tended to score higher than women who didn’t use the therapy.

Okay. Better memory. That’s good. But even the Yahoo article admits… “There were no differences in dementia rates in the two groups.”

Does that sound like staving off Alzheimer’s disease to you? Hardly. But when aspirin cheerleaders start gushing praise, it’s hard for them to stop.

They also downplay the hazards.

But the American Gastroenterological Association doesn’t flinch. The AGA estimates that adverse gastrointestinal events linked to long-term use of aspirin and other NSAIDs is responsible for well over 100,000 hospitalizations each year.

About 15% of those patients die. That’s about 16,500 deaths per year.

But bleeding risk doesn’t end in the gut. Bleeding in the brain causes a significant number of those deaths.

So — back to the Yahoo article — who in their right mind would risk fatal brain bleeding for possible improvement of memory?

It does not compute!

So, no more nonsense about aspirin as a tool to prevent dementia. Especially when we already know how to reduce risk… Engage your intellect. Read. Keep learning. Socialize. Don’t smoke. Exercise. Eat vegetables. Avoid a junk diet with added sugars.

Keeping squirrels out of a birdfeeder is almost impossible. Reducing dementia and Alzheimer’s risk without aspirin is an achievable goal.

Sources:
“Does low-dose acetylsalicylic acid prevent cognitive decline in women with high cardiovascular risk? A 5-year follow-up of a non-demented population-based cohort of Swedish elderly women” BMJ Open, Vol. 2, No. 5, bmjopen.bmj.com

“Aspirin May Reduce Cognitive Decline” Lisa Collier Cool, Yahoo Health, 11/2/12, health.yahoo.net