Common aspirin myth debunked!

I must have said this a million times: If aspirin had been invented today, it would not be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

While people take it with good intentions, let’s not forget it’s a potent blood thinner that can cause more harm than good.

This includes an increased risk of bleeding and death in otherwise healthy, older adults.

Now, the study I would like to discuss today debunks yet another common myth about aspirin… and delivers yet another reason to pass on this outdated prescription.

Aspirin isn’t helping

According to researchers, aspirin does not reduce the risk of cardiovascular (CV) events among adults with high blood pressure—one of the biggest medical myths out there.

(CV events can include acute heart failure, stroke, and even death.)

For the study, researchers looked at data from more than 2,500 participants in a trial conducted over the span of three years.

The study—Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT)—was a multicenter, randomized trial conducted over the span of three years.

The goal was to compare intensive and standard treatment strategies for patients with high blood pressure. But these strategies didn’t seem to lessen risk of CV events. So, researchers then assessed whether aspirin use—along with standard blood pressure management—decreased the risk of CV events.

Still, 42 cardiovascular events occurred in the aspirin group, compared to just 20 in the non-aspirin group… a 210 percent increase!

Plus, in a separate analysis, there was no difference in primary outcome rates between participants who received aspirin and those who did not.

Mainstream miss

So, why do doctors (other than me) still recommend aspirin to their patients?

That’s certainly a question for the mainstream medical community.

Even in my sophisticated patient population, some still cling to the notion they should be on a daily aspirin… and it’s hard to convince them that the science doesn’t hold up!

Mainstream medical “experts” use the fear of death to persuade people to do things they may not want to do—or even have to do.

Of course, this is not a call to go off aspirin if you are currently taking it. That’s a conversation you must have with your own personal physician.

But I do want this to serve as a wake-up call that not all medical recommendations are based on science. And it’s okay to question these “myths” to your doctor.

(If your doctor doesn’t like it or doesn’t have time to discuss, it may be time to find a new one. I recommend consulting the American College for Advancement in Medicine to find a doctor near you. Just log in to their website, www.acam.org, and click on the “search” section.)

Finally, if you’d like to learn about safe alternatives to aspirin, I encourage you to check out the November 2019 issue of my Logical Health Alternatives newsletter (“The ‘doctor-recommended’ therapy killing thousands of heart patients every year”). In it, I give you three all-natural options for a better, SAFER way to help protect your heart. Not yet a subscriber? Click here to become one today!

Until next time,

Dr. Fred

Source:

“Aspirin exposure fails to reduce cardiovascular event risk.” MD Edge, 04/14/2022. (mdedge.com/internalmedicine/article/253813/cardiology/aspirin-exposure-fails-reduce-cardiovascular-event-risk