Going by the recent findings presented at a meeting of the European Cancer Organization, a daily dose of aspirin might prove beneficial for people who have a genetic predisposition to colon cancer.

Noting that a new trial has shown the effectiveness of aspirin in preventing colon cancer in people with ‘hereditary vulnerability’ to the disease, the researchers of Newcastle University in Britain said that the finding might pave way for other treatments for colon cancer, one of the top three cancers in developed countries.

Statistically speaking, at the trials in 43 international trial centres - one of them being in the UK –, as many as 1,000 people with Lynch syndrome were randomized to 600mg of daily aspirin dose, with or without a 30mg dose of starch, an anti-intestinal cancer agent.

The researchers noted that patients with Lynch syndrome are likely to develop their cancers at a fast pace. However, five years after follow-up, the aspirin-treated group reported only 6 colorectal cancers, vis-à-vis 16 cases reported in the placebo group.

Commenting on the findings, lead researcher Professor John Burn, a Newcastle University professor of human genetics, said: “This is a statistically significant result and we are delighted – all the more so because we stopped giving the aspirin after four years, yet the effect is continuing, and is directly correlated with the duration of aspirin use on the trial.”