Aspirin (ASA): A Comprehensive Summary

Aspirin and cancer /rc/id6, for heart attacks /rc/id17, http://healthfully.org/nsaids/ and /aspirin journal articles. Freshman college level, 1962 material; those without college can follow the evidence, and realize it isn’t marketing claims. We are the sickest of mammals because pharma profits from illness and is the “teacher.” There is no drug or vitamin with so many benefits, so studied, and so many ways it contributes to health. It is because our high sugar diet has made us the sickest of mammals; thus dietary changes reduces age related conditions. Aspirin improves the basics, it lowers insulin resistance, neutralizes reactive chemicals At times, I add material that supports that pharma consistently puts profits before our health, that is why humans are by far the sickest of mammals, and our dogs and cat 2nd and 3rd.

Oversight

Oversight: Aspirin (ASA) was introduced in 1899 because it was an improvement of salicylic acid. For over 90 years, it was the leading drug because of its many benefits and lack of toxicity. The research resulted in journal articles on over two dozen benefits. By 1990, physicians prescribed aspirin to reduce risk of heart attacks, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, mild pain, blood clots, headaches, fever, back pain, and muscle cramps and to increase cancer survival. Mothers used aspirin for fever, headaches, colds, and moderate pain. The journal articles uncovering it many benefits were not a major topic of the media, and doctors relied upon textbooks. Textbooks were (and are) focusing on treating conditions; very little on prevention, and even less on self-healing. Bayer Corporation wasn’t advertising prevention, only treating with Bayer Aspirin. From 1900 through to the 1970, the basics of self-healing were thin—a topic verboten to pharma and the media. The list of healing foods, supplements, and drugs is miles long; it’s all marketing, but for 6 exceptions—covered below.

Few doctors spend the months needed to become knowledgeable in topics like cancer and thyroid. They rely on textbooks for quality research that is not misled by marketing dressed as science. I did the same up to about 1995; I then owned 11 textbooks; the first one was bought in 1972. A journal I subscribed to informed me in 1993 that taking 325 mg of aspirin daily for 5 years reduced the risk of colon cancer by 50%, based on a population study in Toronto. I didn’t look for other cancer. I missed the lower risk for other cancers: breast 39%, colorectal 63%, esophageal 73%, Hodgkin’s Lymphoma 60%, ovarian 47%, melanoma 55%, prostate 39%, stomach 62%, and other cancers, including bladder, skin, gastric & leukemia. I also missed that aspirin significantly increases cancer survival for those who took a full dose (325 or 500 mg) daily, but not for metastatic stage IV. Survival rate for stages I, II, & III breast cancer increased by 66% (Harvard Nurses Study, published twice in the BMJ) and for colon cancer by 74% compared to those who didn’t take aspirin after diagnosis with cancer.¹ By extension, all other adenocarcinoma death rates are significantly lower. Aspirin reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by 60%, heart attacks by 51%, type 2 diabetes, and others. Aspirin lowers blood insulin and glucose. The major benefit from aspirin is its gradually restoring insulin to its paleo level. Aspirin in high doses lowers insulin gradually. They are elevated because, on the Western diet, we eat an average of 15 times what the paleo populations ate. We are not biologically hummingbirds. There is a dietary program that lowers the risks for age-related conditions, and a 4 supplements that also lower the risk; one of them is aspirin. Keto diet, exercise, and for seniors anabolic steroids and desiccated thyroid can lower your fasting insulin to paleo level. Mine is below the paleo level, it took me 9 years. My July 2026 fasting insulin was 1.9, down from 2.5 in 2023; I was 83 in June 2026. For the last year I average 3.5 grams of aspirin. Normally I take 1 gram, but because of a large squamous cell cancer removed, I increased my dose of uncoated aspirin—no heartburn ever. Now back to why I take aspirin since 1993, averaging 1 gram a day.

How Bad Pharma Responded

Was pharma thrilled over these aspirin discoveries? How has bad pharma responded to the leading drug for over 45 years?² Among assaults are pharma’s doctors seeing lesions in the stomach, instead of an ulcer. Secon prong, Reyes Syndrome. It was in the 1960s diagnosed by symptoms. Then it became a very rare genetic condition (2 per year) around 2010. So why did the FDA continue the label warning that children shouldn’t take aspirin? It still there in 2026. The last 2 generation aren’t using aspirin for colds and pain, nor their children. Third prong is pharma marketing baby enteric-coated aspirin for adults. It’s only use is a minor reduction in heart attacks. Few now take the 325 mg uncoated aspirin. They believe there is a major risk of an ulcer from using aspirin. At that dose, coated, it has near-zero benefits; not a medicinal dose. Yes, pharma is in the treating-illness business.

The Information War

A big club in the war against aspirin is the information system. The media is a terrible source for information on health and drugs. We are the sickest of mammals by far; pharma and media should be on our side—dream on. I call it the fructonic plague; fructose is 32 times more reactive than stable glucose.³ It has gotten worse because of our government. One of many examples occurred in 1997, when the FDA allowed direct-to-consumer advertising; pharma became the biggest advertiser on television.⁴ In the 29 years, only New Zealand followed the FDA’s example. The second and third sources are not better than bad pharma. Ask your pharma-taught physician what to do. Ask your spouse and friends about aspirin. Do a small survey. It is all about profits: Big Pharma spends between 4 and 10 times more on marketing, including teaching pill pushers, than on drug research.⁵

Salicylic Acid: A Plant Antipathogen

Salicylic acid is a plant antipathogen, part of the plant’s immune system. In humans at medicinal doses, salicylic acid is too caustic for oral use; in aspirin form, it is exceedingly safe. Contrary to pharma’s tobacco science (more below), aspirin lowers the risk of ulcers and heartburn by gradually wiping out H. Pylori that causes heartburn and ulcers. Simply don’t give aspirin to those with severe chronic heartburn; the same for e for other caustic drugs. Remember this when the dupe claims it causes ulcers and his other drugs he is prescribing for you are not caustic. Aspirin lowers blood glucose and can reverse insulin resistance and cure type-2 diabetes. 500 mg was standard until the late 1970s, when bad pharma cut the dose to 325 mg, then coated to cut absorption in half, and marketed the baby aspirin of 125 mg, now 81 mg for adults. The enteric coating reduces its absorption and promotes the belief that ASA causes ulcers; however, a 325 mg uncoated tablet taken daily after 2 years wipes out H pylori, which causes heartburn and ulcers. H. Pylori increases heart attacks and causes over 90% of ulcers. Contrary to pharma’s tobacco science, aspirin’s antimicrobial effect lowers the risk of ulcers. As the gold standard for rheumatoid arthritis for decades, the dose was 3.5 grams daily, yet the older literature doesn’t warn about ulcers. There weren’t, back then, journal articles warning about ulcers for those with arthritis. For all these benefits, pharma is protecting its profits by marginalizing aspirin. Pharma follows the fiduciary obligation of profits before people. If every adult took, like an apple a day, a 325 mg aspirin, pharma’s income would drop over 70%. Because of small amounts in some of the plants we eat, evolution provided other functions, like our vitamins. However, evolution hasn’t evolved systems to prevent the fructonic plague, which has made us the sickest of mammals. However, in the search for healing plants and their extracts, several times man has re-discovered the benefits of salicin, which Bayer converted to aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) and marketed it globally starting in 1897.

Salicylic acid molecular structure — SALICYLIC ACID

Acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) molecular structure — ACETYLSALICYLIC ACID

History of plant sources is long.

A similar compound, salicin, is contained in plants and has been used for thousands of years. The aspirin form, salicylic acid, was developed by Charles Frederic Gerhardt in 1853. Before that, for over 4,000 years, plant extracts of bark were used. At sufficient concentration, some truly benefited. The history goes back to the first writings: Salicin is converted to salicylic. “Salicylate-rich plants appear in clay tablets from ancient Sumer whose clay tablets date to c. 3,500 to c, 2,500 BC. The Ebers Papyrus c. 1500 BC from ancient Egypt list it. Hippocrates, circa 400 BC, used willow-leaf tea and chewing the bark for relief of joint pain and during childbirth. Willow bark preparations were part of the pharmacopoeia of Western medicine in classical antiquity and the Middle Ages.”⁶

From salicin to aspirin

Before the use of willow bark in Europe, a bark from Peru was commonly used. Englishman Edward Stone noticed that the bark of willow extract resembled the taste of the cinchona tree, known as “Peruvian Bark”. He experimented with willow bark for 5 years; one observation was that the bark powder lowered fever. The observation was presented to the Royal Society in 1763. The next major contribution was in 1828 when Johann Buchner, a German pharmacist, isolated a yellow crystal which he called salicin. The next year the French pharmacist Henri Leroux succeeded in obtaining a pure, crystalline form of salicin. His yield was 2% from the desiccated bark.⁷ Prior to this, two Verona Italian pharmacists, Francesco Fontana and Bartolommeo Rigatelli, in 1824 also performed a concentration and isolation. In 1838, Italian chemist Raffaele Piria isolated salicyl alcohol from salicin. Salicin has a molecule of glucose attached. It was removed, then he oxidized it to salicylic acid, a more potent derivative. French chemist Charles Gerhardt in 1853 was able to make acetylsalicylic acid.

“Salicylic acid had also been extracted in 1839 from the herb meadowsweet, whose German name, Spirsäure; it as the basis for naming the newly synthesized drug, aspirin.”⁸ Felix Hoffmann, in 1897, working for Bayer Chemical Company under laboratory manager and chemist Arthur Eichengrun; they discovered a practical method to make acetylsalicylic acid.⁹ Bayer named it aspirin; “A” for “acetyl” and “spir” for meadowsweet a plant whose botanical name is SPIRaea ulmaria; it also is used for its “salicin”, Upon eating salicin, the glucose molecule is removed, leaving the active salicylic alcohol. The chemist increased benefits by oxidation of salicylic alcohol to salicylic acid, which is too corrosive for oral usage or by injection, then adding an acetyl group for oral usage at a medicinal dose of 500 to 1,000 mg. Testing on patients favored that dose and higher. Oh, I hold that pharma uses the tobacco industry’s playbook: tobacco ethics, producing tobacco science and marketing. Baby aspirin was introduced in 1947 by Abe Plow. It was orange flavored and sold by the name St. Joseph. Pharma claimed in the 1980s that a baby dose would reduce the risk of heart attacks equal to the adult dose of 325 to 500 mg. Then they do studies to bury the UK’s physician’s study. We can’t trust pharma’s studies; they are to promote profits. Now they claim there is minimal benefit from taking baby aspirin. The risk of ulcer prevents using adult doses. The FDA is on pharma’s side. There is a reason why pharma opposes aspirin; it isn’t for our health, Reyes syndrome and ulcers.

About aspirin

The benefit numbers above are low because the population taking aspirin is sicker than the real-world population. Poor health reduces benefits. Second, aspirin population studies since 1985 include those who are taking low doses, which have been available since the late 1970s, as too enteric coated aspirin. Enteric coated reduces absorption by 50%. This lowers the medicinal effects of 325 mg. One is cardiovascular protection, which now becomes near zero because of tolerance to the low dose. Enteric delays peak from 1 hour to 8 hours. No pain relief, etc. Second, those who take aspirin are a select population whose health is poorer than those not taking aspirin; thus, comparing their risks to the general population underestimates aspirin’s benefits. Moreover, the sick and elderly would have a lower response to aspirin. Many of them have arthritic pains; it is a sign of insulin resistance, which is a sign of fundamental dysfunctions on a cellular level because of mitochondrial dysfunction; they are at risk for all sorts of conditions, including cancer and heart attacks. They likely are taking multiple drugs, another major biological stressor that increases the risks of all the age-related conditions. The aspirin users are more likely to smoke, be diabetic, be sedentary, eat a poor diet, consume ethanol, etc. They are a sickly group, thereby lowering the positive effects of aspirin. Aspirin users are less likely to take hormone replacements, exercise, and eat a low-sugar diet. Benefits depend on duration and amount of ASA. Pharma is against aspirin; this war against health is around us.

Why "Miracle Drug"

My research is like drug-marketing hype, all claims including mechanisms, but aspirin isn’t a hype. High-dose aspirin significantly lowers serum glucose, thereby reducing glycation and protecting the mitochondria in cells that produce the energy molecule ATP (both covered below). Every cell and tissue gradually benefits from the increased amount of ATP. Aspirin reduces insulin resistance, which does much more than regulate blood glucose. Insulin is a gateway hormone that affects many biological functions, one of which is that it controls weight through leptin. There are at least 16 functions for insulin, and about the same number for the hormone leptin, which is partially regulated by insulin. Insulin resistance increases the risk for nearly all age-related conditions to occur earlier. In summary, the high sugar diet causes insulin resistance and mitochondrial dysfunction; the increased level of insulin over-stuffs cells with sugars (glucose); this lowers the rate of autophagy (healing processes). By lowering cellular glucose, it reduces the frequence of the polyol pathway that converts glucose to fructose. Too much sugar, its fructose, that is the major cause for why humans are the sickest of mammals.¹⁰ Fructose is 32 more reactive than glucose. This combination of excess fructose, mitochondrial dysfunction, and insulin resistance is the major reason why humans are by far the sickest of mammals. Aspirin slows this 3 prongs: fructose causing damage, mitochondrial dysfunction, and insulin resistance.

Corporatization of Medicine

So why doesn’t everyone know of these benefits above? Why don’t doctors recommend 325 mg of uncoated aspirin daily? The short answer is corporatization of medicine, which includes medical education and regulatory capture. Pharma profits much more from illness than it does from creating wellness. As Harvard Prof. Marcia Angell, MD. and former Editor-in-Chief of the NEJM: “If we had set out to design the worst system than we could imagine, we couldn’t have imagined on as bad as we have” in her video. A chorus of professionals confirms her dismal assessment, but you won’t hear them in corporate media. As social animals, physicians and the public have become true believers because of pharma’s social conditioning. The ability to replace aspirin with Tylenol indicates that as Pfizer’s executive said at a conference, “I can put horse shit in a capsule and make it a blockbuster”—and they have.

The evidence for an even longer list of benefits is in the next section. These benefits explain pharma’s multifaceted attack, which includes reducing the dose from 500 mg to 325, then coating aspirin, which takes 8 hours to dissolve. The baby aspirin (81 mg) is not a medicinal dose. Total tolerance develops within 1 year in preventing blood clots of over 90%, and similar for other benefits; thus, pharma and the FDA use baby aspirin with near-zero benefits. Then they claim it causes Reyes syndrome. which supposedly affects children, it doesn’t. And they claim a significant risk of ulcers based on scientifically fraudulent testing. Long-term, adult dose aspirin, because of its antimicrobial effect, lowers the risk. Pharma’s assault has turned the #1 NSAID, the first recommended treatment for arthritis and moderate pain, into the 7th as of 2012 and at a dose that is useless (81 mg). Pharma is in the business of treating illness.

Salicylic acid is the major biologically active form

, aspirin has an acetyl group added on to salicylic acid which makes it mild, and there are other benefits. It is removed inside our cells. Pharma, besides ignoring its benefits, makes no mention that salicylic acid is found in plants as part of their immune system. Yes, plants are attacked by viruses, fungi, and bacteria, and aspirin is protective for plants and mammals. We get a moderate amount of aspirin (salicin) in our vegetables eaten, and the body synthesizes aspirin from benzoic acid for its anti-pathogen properties—all this is confirmed in a podcast by Scientific American—it is more than a plant hormone, mammals also make salicylic acid from benzoic acid. If it were used as a co-enzyme in an essential pathway, it would be classified as a vitamin, but it is used in non-vital ways that reduce risk for most of the age-related conditions for those on the western high -ugar diet. The reduction in sales of aspirin contributes risk for many of our illnesses, made all the worse by consumers turning to pernicious NSAIDs such as naproxen, acetaminophen, and others which significantly promote an assortment of ailments, including the big one cardiovascular disease. Aspirin clearly should be our first choice. It is a supplement because it is part of our plant diet like vitamins, CoQ10, and minerals. “A study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry finds that humans can manufacture their own salicylic acid;. Another study, in Nature, shows that plants make their own salicylic acid at wound sites. Karen Hopkin reports” Scientific American. That which fights fungus and bacteria in plants, does the same in mammals. “Salicylic acid (SA) plays a key role in the establishment of resistance to microbial pathogens.” “Aspirin elevates ATP levels” at 2002, and ATP made in the mitochondria is the energy molecule that powers the immune systems, repair & replacement, and much more. Both plants and eukaryotes are powered by ATP; plants also have mitochondrion generating ATP. “Aspirin elevated ATP levels not only in intact cortical neurons [brain] but also in isolated brain mitochondria,” 2002. Evolution supports survival, but not for the elderly, who are culled from the village. The Kitavans had only 6% above the age of 60, the oldest was 96. Given that humans are the sickest of mammals, some natural compounds in excess have healthful benefits, especially for seniors, such as sex hormones, which for seniors precipitously decline to cause sarcopenia (our heart is a muscle). In my gym, every man by the age of 70 is using a woman’s amount of weight. I am the exception; I have been using testosterone lotion from a compounding pharmacy since 2004, when I was 61.

Aspirin Through History, Revisited

The recorded history of aspirin starts with the ancient Egyptians. The Greeks used an extract of willow bark and leaves, which contain the plant hormone salicylic acid. “Salicylic acid (SA) serves as a key hormone in plant innate immunity, including resistance in both local and systemic tissue upon biotic attacks, hypersensitive responses, and cell death.” (ASA is rapidly hydrolyzed in the stomach to salicylic acid, its active form.) Hippocrates, the Greek physician, 420 BC wrote of its use to relieve pain & fever. The Roman Pliny the Elder, and later Galen, added its use for skin ulcer treatment. The drug remained thereafter in the European pharmacopeia and became widely used to treat malaria by the 1760s. In 1853, a German chemist modified bitter salicylic acid (SA) to the less caustic ASA by adding an acetate group, and in 1899, the German dye and drug company Bayer marketed it as aspirin.

Aspirin vs. Phenacetin and Tylenol

Aspirin quickly outsold phenacetin, another Bayer drug introduced in 1887, which is converted to Tylenol (paracetamol) in the body. Because of toxic damage to the kidneys and cancers, known since the 1940s, most nations banned phenacetin in the 1970s, Canada in 1873, and the U.S. in 1983. We would have had Tylenol, which was developed before phenacetin, but for the warnings in a journal article on Tylenol, in 1893. If you believe its ban was protecting us; no it took 20 years of kidney damage and cancer: the agencies were quieting the critics of phenacetin. It had been known that phenacetin was converted to Tylenol decades prior to the bans. The ban opened the highway for Tylenol, which has buried aspirin. Paracetamol is in over 325 drugs—tobacco profits.¹¹ I am choking from the smoke, are you?

A Century of Preeminence

“For almost 100 years the salicylates [aspirin family of drugs] have retained their preeminent position” Goodman and Gilman Pharmacology, 11th Ed, 2006, p. 692. “It is the standard against which all rheumatoid arthritis medication should be measured” supra. p. 690. 3.5 grams is the recommended dose--Merck Manual 1987, p. 960, and same in earlier editions. In 1958, production peaked at 20,000 tons (3.5 lb. per person). Taking 8, half-gram aspirin in a day was a common response for pain, headaches, colds, chronic back pain, and arthritis. In the late 50s, aspirin’s share of sales fell to the heavily-marketed newer NSAIDs. Following the 1973 discovery that aspirin reduces the incidence of heart attacks (MIs) by reducing blood clotting, thrombi) that completely close the coronary artery when plaque leaks. By the 1980s, its sales rose, but most was for too low a dose for the prevention of cancer, MIs, and other ischemic events. “Even at 1300 mg/d, [long-term] 8% of subjects were resistant” AHA to its anticoagulant action (MI protection). Its biological half-life is dose dependent---2-3 hours for low doses and up to 15-30 hours for large doses. About 80 to 90% of aspirin is bound (inactive) to albumin protein, where it is gradually released, while the rest remains inactive in the bonded state. From 80 to 100% is excreted in the urine, sweat, saliva, and feces. It has now slipped to 6th in NSAID sales in 2010, and on my bottle are 15 lines of FDA warnings for stomach bleeding and in children, Reye's syndrome. Is the old wisdom and research false? Or is it another example of tobacco science and tobacco ethics used to promote illnesses? The cases against paracetamol (Tylenol) answered that question.

Corporatization and the FDA

By the early 1980s, Pharma with legislation of Congress gave pharma the control of research and production of information. Aspirin, the drug of choice by your parents and grandparents, was “shown” to be unsafe in published tobacco studies. Pharma drummed into the public’s and physicians’ heads that aspirin is ineffective & frequently causes stomach bleeds, ulcers, allergic reactions, and Reye's Syndrome in children. Capitalism places profits before people; pharma profits from illness. This 1.2-trillion-dollar industry in the U.S. can do pretty much what it wants in our pro-business world backed by the financial sector. But the older aspirin record has not been erased, just ignored and buried by the flood of the same article with different titles and authors. In the 11th (2006) Edition of Goodman and Gilman Pharmacology, supra p, 690, “many clinicians favor the use of other NSAIDs perceived to have better gastrointestinal tolerability, even though this perception remains unproven by convincing clinical trials”—and ASA's low rate of ulcers. Ulcers are only one prong of pharma’s attack on a drug, which is cheap and prevents illnesses. Another approach is to change the dose. To ensure that it isn’t effective for pain, they have cut the dose from 1 gram (2 tablets) to 325 mgs for first dose. The enteric-coated aspirin takes too long to be absorbed for relief of pain; the peak serum level is 5 to 8 hours, aspirin just one hour. Pharma teaching with tobacco science created the fear of aspirin causing ulcers (topic covered below) and heartburn. The longer it takes absorbing the lower the blood peak. “Compared to an uncoated aspirin, the start of absorption with food averaged 0.8 hours, with food 2.7 hours, but for the enteric it was 8.9 hours” at 1987. There goes its analgesic function. It is now commonly prescribed for preventing heart attacks based on the Doctor’s Heart Study in the 80s; it used uncoated 325 mgs every other day. It works by inhibiting the second prong of a heart attack: the first is plaque rupture, then platelets form a blood clot that completely occludes a partially blocked coronary artery.¹² Other major healthful benefits were uncovered below; in an era before neoconservatism took over. As for Reyes syndrome, diagnosis was based on symptoms; when genetic testing was introduced, the number affected dropped to 2 per year. Aspirin is modified in the large intestine to the less active salicylic acid. “Aspirin irreversibly acetylates the platelet enzyme cyclo-oxygenase and in this way, interrupts the prostaglandin pathway and prevents the biosynthesis... however, enteric-coated ASA preparations can be deacetylated in the gut [where it dissolves] and hence might lack antiplatelet activity” at 1984. The standard treatment for rheumatoid arthritis for over 80 years at 3.5 grams and up, it suddenly became too toxic: “Aspirin is no longer used for R.A. as effective doses are often toxic” The Merck Manual, 18th Edition, 2006, p. 286. And to prevent a future generation of users, pharma and later the FDA warned parents about Reyes syndrome in children. Diagnosis was based upon symptoms. However, when a test for Reyes syndrome was developed in the early 90s, the cases dropped to 2 a year, but the FDA warnings wasn’t changed. “Between 1980 and 1997, the number of reported cases of Reye’s syndrome decreased from 555 cases in 1980 to about 2 cases per year since 1994 …when genetic testing for inborn errors of metabolism…” Moreover, a mechanism of cause is lacking: “in 93% of the cases a viral infection had occurred in the preceding three-week period… and no animal model of Reye’s syndrome has been developed with aspirin” Wiki 2008. This statement implies that Reyes syndrome is not caused by aspirin. This 2008 passage has since been removed by friends of pharma. And only 55% salicylate detected, 73% viral infection, yet the FDA’s warning remains on bottles of aspirin against its usage for those under 19, along with the warning of gastrointestinal irritation and bleeding, thus getting parents and their children to select other NSAIDs, all of which increase the risk of MIs and lack the protections listed below. The earlier occurrences of heart attacks, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, ALS, Parkinson’s, diabetes, and cancer is a result of the reduction in the use of aspirin (the main cause is the high-carb & fructose diet). Nearly everyone dies earlier thanks to pharma’s and food manufacturers’ corporate tobacco ethics—profits before people. This is the business model for pharma, and my website has many more examples. I stand on the shoulders of others. For a partial list of them and their efforts, go to /rg to watch them on YouTube where there is a page of over 500 lectures and documentaries with links, and also a list of their books. At /rep and /rmbp are some of the peer-reviewed journals articles. The only conclusion, I and others have drawn, is that pharma profits from illness. And as Prof. Ben Goldacre put it in his Bad Pharma “The devil is in the details.” Below are the details.

Side Effects, By the Book

If Wikipedia’s list of side effects for aspirin is correct, my parents and grandparents, relatives, neighbors were very fortunate not to have those conditions. Listed are heart burn, ulcers, Reyes syndrome, and AERD (aspirin exacerbated respiratory disease). Aspirin exacerbates gout, and causes tinnitus, and skin rash The same are on the CDC’s website. Now on why of all drugs, aspirin has the best (I am not including the natural anabolic steroid like DHEA).

How Aspirin Increases Autophagy and Reduces Age-Related Conditions¹³

The gift that gives (to pharma) is our western high-sugar diet; the fructose half of sucrose is 32 times more reactive than glucose. Fructose, through a process of glycation to proteins that are imported from the cytosol into the mitochondria (MTD), where the glycated amino acids undergo further reactions to form the very reactive dicarbonyls, which damage the systems within the mitochondria including mtDNA (mitochondria DNA) and unsaturated fatty acids in their cell membranes. MTD is created from imported proteins and fatty acids, and as need more of them are shipped. Over 90% of the proteins in the MTD are produced in the endoplasmic reticulum, the very large organelle that make the proteins for the cell. An abnormally high percentage of glycated proteins and unsaturated fats results in diminished functions of the mitochondria. Since mitochondria supply nearly all of the energy molecule ATP from ADP and AMP, through metabolism of pyruvate and acetyl-CoA derived from glucose and fatty acids, the damage to the mitochondria (mitochondrial dysfunction) adversely affects nearly every process in the cell and is a major cause for insulin resistance (a very bad thing). Of pathogenic significance is the delayed replacement of collagen, sensitivity to uric acid, elevated insulin (insulin resistance), which has a long list of negative consequences, including the downregulation of the cellular repair-replacement systems called autophagy. Mitochondrial dysfunction causes a lower amount of ATP produced, thereby reducing the healing process of autophagy. Aspirin as antioxidant protects the mitochondria, thereby resulting in more ATP. Aspirin also reduces the rate of glycation by reducing blood glucose, which ultimately reduces insulin resistance and thereby increases the rate of clearance of glucose and fructose from cells, and thereby reduces glycation. Glycation is the non-enzymatic bonding of sugars mainly to mtDNA, proteins and unsaturated fatty acid. The bonded sugars are eventually converted to dicarbonyls which are extremely reactive. They will bond onto among others the DNA in the mitochondria. The main cause of age-related conditions.

The Maillard Reaction

“Aspirin has been shown to be a powerful inhibitor of post-Amadori Maillard reactions” at 2001. This is the big one, because the Maillard reaction turns glycation by glucose and fructose into dicarbonyls. The damage caused by the dicarbonyls is over 200 times that of the two reducing sugars; moreover, in comparison studies, fructose produces 300 times more dicarbonyls than stable glucose. THIS IS HOW FRUCTOSE HAS MADE HUMANS THE SICKEST OF MAMMALS. It ain’t refined starch that some have claimed is the poison.

What follows is some of the evidence on the claims that put aspirin in the stars along with Orion and the Big Dipper. For example is how aspirin protects the ubiquitous collagen (connective tissues) from damage by reactive chemicals made by metabolism also. Aspirin protects the MTD (see the heading below mitochondria).. The modus operandi (preventing glycation) is the main way that aspirin reduces the risk for so many different conditions; the first step toward converting sugars to reactive dicarbonyls. Healthier mitochondria, through their metabolism of carbs and fats, increase the supply of ATP, which, among many paths, increases autophagy. “Aspiring triggers cardo-protective mitophagy in mice and nematodes…. induction of autophagy by salicylate,” at 2018. Autophagy is an umbrella term for the various cellular ways in which structures are repaired, or if sufficiently compromised, orderly dismantled. Under autophagy’s umbrella are mitophagy (orderly dismantling of mitochondria and its replacement) and apoptosis (the orderly dismantling of defective cells) for their replacement. The benefits generated through the upregulation of autophagy has many health benefits. Like the list of benefits from the male and female sex hormones. The illness-care industries oppose their usage—cui bono, follow the dollar.

Evidence-Based Benefits, A to Z

What follows is the evidence, condition by condition, in roughly alphabetical order, as the author compiled it.

Aspirin vs. the Other NSAIDs

American Heart association warning also in journal sources by causing cardiovascular disease in part through inhibition of COX-2. Contrary to the other NSAIDs, only aspirin reduces, at a medicinal dose for 5 years, a reduction in MI by over 50%. Pharma sometimes groups aspirin with the other NSAIDs, then warns about ulcers. The main benefits are through lowering insulin; over 80% of adults have some degree of insulin resistance, which is the down-stream major cause of conditions associated with the western diet (too much fructose). Secondly it is like a vitamin, its major source is in some plants. Evolution, like with the vitamins, has developed many salubrious system. Unlike a vitamin aspirin is not an essential cofactor in a vital process, thus it is like B4, B8, B10, B11, B13, B14, B15, myo-inositol, beta carnitine, and others other compounds that were classified as a vitamin or proposed--all failed the standard. ASA's role as an antioxidant is one of several major positive effects, antimicrobial is another. Lowering blood glucose and thus blood insulin is a major positive effect. Below there is more about why aspirin is so exceptional and the many examples thereof.

ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)

“The results of this study suggested that aspirin use might reduce the risk of ALS, and the benefit might be more prominent for older people” 2015. It is based on a large population study and adjusted for confounding variable. Aspirin attenuates the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, 2026. They found that sspirin inhibits the activities of microglia in an NF-kappaB.

ALZHEIMER’S & Parkinson’s disease

reduced 60% with over 2 years usage through its COX-2 inhibition--Neurology, 997; 48: 626-632, ALS, Swedish twin matching study, which shows low dose and other NSAIDs don’t. “Aspirin (the quintessential acylating pharmacon) can inhibit the amyloidogenesis of superoxide dismutase (SOD1)….therapies for diseases linked to protein self-assembly” 2015 , and by inhibiting excitatory 0function of glutamate, Science 1996. Note: testosterone and estradiol also greatly reduce risk. Long-term use of aspirin inhibits beta amyloid-aggregation [the physical sign of Alzheimer’s], at 2001, by 2x Science 1996. “Current knowledge and clinical data indicate that aspirin can be an attractive addition to treatment regiments for neurodegenerative diseases”. 2016, and mechanism 2002. Given the development of clumps of protein for both AD and PD, aspirin is neuro-perspective and aspirin increase the production of dopamine by upregulating tyrosine hydroxylase. Aspirin promotes the resolution of inflammation [122] and prevents dopamine depletion in the striatum in MPTP-induced mouse and 6-OHDA-induced rat PD models.

Analgesic (pain) and inflammation

By Pharma’s exaggerating the risks and ignoring benefits, physicians believe there are better mild analgesics for pain, such as Celebrex, a blockbuster which triples MI risk—was banned in EU & Canada, but not anymore. Using pharma’s studies, the risk of MI and death is minimal. Pharma 40 years ago dropped the dosage to the less-effective 325 mg, thereby causing users to switch to heavily advertised alternatives, Advil, Tylenol, and Aleve. The once standard 1,000 mg to start and 500 mg as needed is equivalent to the recommended analgesic dose of Advil & Alive; Tylenol is a placebo; no quality proof of relief of pain. Studies justify the higher dose of aspirin, 900-1,300 mg for pain. Enteric-coated takes hours to dissolve, thus not for prompt relief, not for pain and 8 hrs. with food to reach peak blood level. There is no advantage to adding an NSAID to an opioid analgesic, except for inflammation and obtaining a patent.

Anticoagulant drugs

Warfarin (Coumadin), Plavix, and others have a much higher risk of serious bleeding episodes. Warfarin accounts for an estimated 33,000 hospital admissions for hemorrhaging. Standard treatment for arrhythmia (fibrillation) includes an anticoagulant for life, but they do not stand up to aspirin, with its many other benefits. Pharmas’ journal articles downplay bleeding by counting only 2 or more pints of blood. Except for Warfarin, there is no antidote for bleeding, thus pharma’s prescription choice causes far more deaths than the deaths from pulmonary embolism they are preventing. Greater protection comes from aspirin Cochrane Review in 2004, and the AHA agreed. Aspirin in the medicinal dose of 325-975 mg is a healthier and safer choice. I have been taking an average of 1,000 mg daily since 1993, when Dr. Wright prescribed eight 325 mg tablets daily. There are no Tums in my medicine chest.

Anti-inflammatory

“Aspirin can modulate multiple pathogenic mechanisms implicated in the development of multiple organ dysfunction in sepsis and ARDS [acute respiratory distress syndrome]” Critical Care 2015. The effect is “not by direct inhibition of COX like most other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) but instead by suppression of the expression of the enzyme (via a yet-unelucidated mechanism)” Wiki, thus unlike the other NSAIDs which increase the risk of heart attack by 50% or more, aspirin lowers the risk. “These findings provide direct in vivo evidence for an anti-inflammatory action for both aspirin-triggered LXA4 and LXA4 stable analogues and their site of action in vivo, at 1987. Also inhibits IKK-beta, which prevents activation of NF-kapaB that downregulates genes involved in the inflammatory response—Nature 1998. Note, Peter Gotzsche expresses doubt of NSAIDs ability to reduce inflammation, and the evidence in support, measurements of finger diameter is hardly science. For other NSAIDS, I doubt there is a net benefit from partially blocking the immune functions of inflammation and fever. Nature didn’t evolve these highly-preserved mechanisms to reduce survival. Aspirin fine tunes these immune responses unlike the other NSAIDs, and thereby prevents the damage caused in the acute phase. It’s widely availability through plant sources for plant as part of the plant’s immune system; this explains its salubrious functions in mammals.

Antimicrobial and antifungal

Given that pathogens play the major role in cardiovascular disease, safe antimicrobial agents ought to be widely researched for affect upon atherosclerosis. The lead starts with plants salicin which is oxidized to salicylic acid. Many species of plants use the salicin in their immune system. Common in plant as food has resulted in mammal using salicylic acids., Plant Journal 1992, and book 2000. “Aspirin-triggered lipoxin enhances macrophage [large immune cells] phagocytosis of bacteria [engulfing bacteria] while inhibiting inflammatory cytokine production” 2011 Wikipedia. Inhibits growth of H. pylori, BMJ Gut, 2017, and GUT 2005, clinical trial 2017. Since H. Pylori causes ulcer and heartburn, aspirin lowers occurrences of heartburn and ulcers—contrary to pharma’s tobacco science: “aspirin and salicylate inhibited the growth of H pylori in a dose dependent manner and bactericidal activity was due to cell lysis” at BMJ. “The aspirin N‐mustard agent expressed strong antibacterial activity against a penicillin‐resistant bacteria and first‐order alkylation kinetics” biotechnology 2003. In another paper, Jones et al. confirmed that ASA has considerable toxicity for Gram-positive cocci and less for Gram-negative rods [Jan 1970]. Among aspirin breakdown products is 1, 3-dihydroxybenzoic acid, which “has antimicrobial properties.” Wikipedia “We performed a review of such research in order to provide a comprehensive overview of ASA and viral, bacterial, fungal and parasitic infections, as well as ASA’s antibiofilm properties” a summary article 2022.

Antioxidant effects

Salicylic acid’s [SA, active form of aspirin] immune action is through “catalase, a common enzyme [protein of 2,000 amino acids] found in nearly all living organisms exposed to oxygen…. It is a very important enzyme in protecting the cell from oxidative damage by reactive oxygen species (ROS)… one catalase molecule can convert approximately 5 million molecules of hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen each second… also catalyze various metabolites and toxins,” Wiki. “SA could also protect plant and mammalian catalases against inactivation by H2O2 in vitro “, at. “Detailed analyses of SA's interaction with tobacco and mammalian catalases indicate that SA acts as an electron donor for the peroxidative cycle of catalase” at. ASA inhibits lipid peroxidation, DNA damage, NF-kapa B activation and TNF-alpha production at 1999. ROS are the major cause of age-related degenerative diseases. For example, ASA protects fibrinogen. “In cultured endothelial cells derived from human umbilical vein, aspirin (30–300 μM) increased heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) protein levels in a concentration-dependent fashion up to fivefold over basal levels…. Pretreatment with aspirin or bilirubin at low micro-molar concentrations protected endothelial cells [on endothelial damage and Wiki] “from hydrogen peroxide-mediated toxicity…. a novel mechanism by which aspirin prevents cellular injury under inflammatory conditions and in cardiovascular disease.” at 2003. This effect was not demonstrated with other NSAIDs. “The potent antioxidant property of gentisic acid [ASA metabolite] may partly account for the anti-atherogenic effects of aspirin”, at 2005. This effect has been shown to protect numerous tissues/organs such as the eye lens, preventing cataracts in 1988. “Aspirin has been shown to be a powerful inhibitor of post-Amadori Maillard reactions” (a process known as glycation) 2001. In my own case, I have inherited a gene for hemochromatosis from my father; thus I absorb a higher-than-normal rate of iron. Excessive iron forms crystals in the liver, because of high levels of iron in the blood. In the blood, iron increases ROS, reactive oxygen species, which is causal for liver cancer. Aspirin increases the production of ferritin, which stores iron safely and thus prevents the formation of iron crystal precipitates—at 1998. A major benefit of aspirin is the reduction of bio-stressors. The lower the bio-stressors, the more ATP (the body’s fuel) is available to promote health. The healing process uses the excess ATP. By limiting bio-stressors, there is more ATP for self-healing. “The results show that aspirin is an efficient -OH radical scavenger with a reaction rate constant of k \= 3.6 x 1010 M-1sec-1, which is faster than several well-established antioxidants, such as ascorbate, glutathione and cysteine” 1999. Apoptosis runs more efficiently when taking aspirin.

Apoptosis

is the system whereby significantly dysfunctional cells are systematically dismantled for reprocessing of molecules. The process removes precancerous cells, benign tumors, and the like. Aspirin, through the release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria, triggers apoptosis--see cancer below.

Arthritis Inflammation

The majority of patients with rheumatoid arthritis can be controlled with salicylates alone” Goodman & Gilman pharmacology 6th Ed, P 698. Its functions to lower the immune system damage to the joint, and thereby reduce arthritic pain. Its other positive effects contribute to Goodman & Gilman calling aspirin (over 3 grams) the gold standard: “are known to reduce production of superoxide radicals, induce apoptosis, inhibit the expression of adhesion molecules, decrease nitric oxide synthase, decrease proinflammatory cytokines (e.g., IFN-α, interleukin 1), modify lymphocyte activity, and alter cellular membrane functions” P 673. It also inhibits prostaglandin, lowers blood glucose and insulin. ASA reduces arthritic inflammation and immune assault on joints. The positive effects on mitochondria result in an increase in ATP, which powers the many healing systems, including autophagy.

Atherogenesis slowed

“strong evidence that atherosclerosis is slowed down in a dose term” by 47%, stopped, also. Mechanisms: By NO endothelial cells oxidative damage, inhibits leukocyte attacks, cytokines, CD36, FFA & diabetes. For papers on developing the use of aspirin for atherosclerosis and for cancer, and limited value of chemotherapy.

Autophagy is the healing process

(not just the brake down of dysfunctional cells) is turned up by aspirin. Insulin resistance and mitochondrial dysfunction reduced autophagy. Other ways of turning up autophagy is through fasting, 2018 and 2018 full. This promotes apoptosis of cancer cells, and tissue healing.

BREAST CANCER SURVIVAL

(long), UP 67% compared to no aspirin use stages 1-3; by necrosis factor TNF, and. mechanism: lowers COX-2, which increases prostaglandin, which promotes metastasis and carcinogenesis. Aspirin attenuates beta-catenin/TCF 4 signaling, which inhibits metastasis of breast cancer, in 2019 FULL, and several other ways.

CANCERS VARIOUS TISSUES RISK

reduction of “63% colon, 67% breast, 36% lung, and 39% prostate cancer. Significant risk reductions were also observed for esophageal 73%, stomach 62%, and ovarian cancer 47%” also, and. Epidemiologic studies of malignant melanoma, Hodgkin's disease, and adult leukemia also found that NSAIDs are protective; melanoma 55%. Other studies have shown that aspirin promotes the death of abnormal cells through the natural mechanism of apoptosis by stimulating tumor necrosis factor NF-B, by p38 & JNK, mechanism. Long-term, but not the low dose. These numbers are low, allow me to explain. First, the population that is taking aspirin includes those who are taking low-dose, which has been available since the 1980s. The low dose fails because of tolerance. Second, those who take aspirin are a select population whose health is poorer than those not taking aspirin. Those with significant rheumatoid arthritis take a high dose and lower the above risks. Arthritic pain is a sign of a fundamental dysfunction on a cellular level because of mitochondrial dysfunction, which puts them at higher risk for all sorts of conditions; moreover, they are less likely to take hormone replacement; and more likely to take multiple net negative drugs. For various mechanisms on why ASA lowers cancer risk & cancer therapy, FULL 2011, & the 1993 colon study. “Aspirin acts on diverse hall marks of cancer, such as sustained tumor growth, metastasis, angiogenesis, inflammation, and immune evasion… The use of aspirin for cancer chemoprevention and therapy.” 2018 China.

Cognitive decline following surgery is prevented with aspirin

Hospitalization for major surgery or critical illness often associates with cognitive decline. Inflammation and dysregulation of the innate immune system can exert broad effects in the periphery and central nervous system (CNS)... Systemic prophylaxis with aspirin-triggered resolvin D1 (AT-RvD1: 7S,8R,17R-tr ihydroxy-4Z,9E,11E,13Z,15E,19Z-docosahexaenoic acid, as little as 100 ng dose [per mouse] improved memory decline following surgery and abolished signs of synaptic dysfunction.” 2013

Diabetes

type 2 (T2D) ;has been treated successfully with high-doses aspirin—up to 6 grams a day. ASA has a positive effect on obesity, T2D, insulin resistance; it improves insulin functions, and it lowers serum glucose level by increasing glucose metabolism. Going back over a century, salicylates (aspirin family) were used to treat T2D. Noting that “rheumatic fever and diabetes rarely coexist,… an intensive 2-week course of aspirin [5 gm daily] abolished glycosuria and lowered the fasting blood sugar to normal… to moderately severe diabetics” BMJ-1953 also 2001, and review. The mechanism was uncovered: “activation of the serine kinase IKKβ, which plays a key role in tissue inflammation, in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance” 2002. On low-carb diet replaces drugs,. reverse gradually non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and reverse Insulin resistance—see diet articles at id.14 & id 15.

Dementia

aspirin induce brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein that is a growth factor for the brain—promotes self-healing” 2023. “This protein has a crucial role in neuronal survival” 2008. “Users of high-dose aspirin had significantly lower prevalence of Alzheimer's dementia and better-maintained cognitive function than non-users.” 2003,2008. Some metals and pesticides are contributing causes. “Risk factors investigated included occupation, well-water use, pesticide use, metal exposures, medical history, smoking, alcohol consumption, and drug use. Twenty-six percent of the male PD cases reported having been employed in farming versus eleven percent for male controls (OR \= 3.1, 95% C.I. \= 0.3 to 35). Sixteen percent of male cases versus none of the controls reported employment as welders,” 1991. A stronger protective effect [Parkinson] was observed for regular NSAID users (OR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.35 to 0.79), particularly those who reported 2 or more years of use https://n.neurology.org/content/69/19/1836.short The reason for poor results with aspirin tested is the low-dose enteric coated, which has less than 1/8th the peak blood level of 325 mg uncoated; viz., more pharma promoting illness. “Users of high-dose aspirin had significantly lower prevalence of Alzheimer's dementia and better-maintained cognitive function than non-users” Swedish Study.

Drug safer

The prevalence of asthma, atopic eczema (inflammation of the skin, dermatitis), and allergic rhinitis has increased over the last three decades” causes are the increased use of acetaminophen replacing aspirin since the 1980s and the Western diet which is low in the stable saturated fats and high in sugars—all sources averages 25% of calories including fruits, milk sugar, etc. Clearly, aspirin at high doses is safer than pharma’s hypertension, blood clots, other NSAIDs for pain, prediabetes, and MI prevention drugs.

Endothelial cells

play a key role in the functions of the tissues; they form the outer layer. Aspirin, through positive effects of the mitochondrial, improves endothelial cell functions, 2003. Endothelial cells are the lining of arteries (and others such as the intestines), their proper performance keeps pathogens from entering the muscle layer of the artery and causing inflammation, which is the starting point for atherosclerosis, Aug 2005. The evidence won’t go away: over 100 years of autopsy findings in leaked atheromas, a high population of pathogens is in the leaking area.

Fatty liver

The figure for U.S. fatty liver runs from 25% to 40%. Even with a enteric baby aspirin, there was 111% reduction in fatty liver compared to the placebo group (2024). Given its many metabolic functions, especially reducing insulin resistance and antioxidant abilities, aspirin is good for the liver in medicinal usage.

Fibrotic scarring (fibrosis of lungs etc.)

Fibrosis is a condition that can affect lungs, liver, brain (glia scars), heart, and other tissues. ASA reduces paraquat-induced lung toxicity, 2019, risk for fibrosis in patients with NAFLD (fatty liver) 2019, lowers risk of liver fibrosis 2016, and lowers rate of progression of fatty liver to NASH (when liver functions significantly decline), 2019. “Aspirin is a cardioprotective drug with anti-cardiac fibrosis action in vivo” 2017. “Aspirin inhibits endometrial fibrosis by suppressing TGF-beta1….” 2020. Cystic fibrosis, 1999. “Aspirin inhibits NF-kapa-B and protects from angiostein II induced organ damage… explains utility of high dose aspirin.” 2001. PI3K/AKT/mTOR-mediated autophagy pathway, and “aspirin can alleviate liver, kidney, and cardiac fibrosis” and lung fibrosis, 2023 full.

Gout, uric acid

“There is a direct relationship between fructose intake and serum levels of uric acid (UA), which is the final product of purine metabolism.” Aspirin in high doses is a uricosuric drug; it increases secretion of uric acid in the urine; this lowers the formation of uric acid crystals that cause gout, kidney damage, and endothelial dysfunction; thus, aspirin slows atherogenesis—see ScAm 1991. Also, in Alexander Haig’s 1894 book on hyperuricemia; salicylates were used for treatment. Because of the glucose and fructose-lowering effect, the production of uric acid is reduced by a reduction in the IMP pathway stimulated by fructose caused by the depletion of NADP. Recent preclinical and clinical evidence suggests that chronic hyperuricemia is an independent risk factor for hypertension, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular disease,” 2017. Another way fructose makes humans the sickest of mammals. “This can partly be explained by a remarkable increase in added sugars in the Western diet, especially fructose,” Fructose Intake, Serum Uric Acid, and Cardiometabolic Disorders: A critical Review, 2017. The fructonic plague.

Heart attack deaths lowered 44%

high does prevents aspirin resistance, and. A heart attack is a two-step process: first, an immature¹⁴ plaque leaks and partially blocks a coronary artery; then, platelets aggregate and form around the partial blockage. With total obstruction, the lack of oxygen causes damage to the heart muscle. Aspirin irreversibly blocks platelet aggregation. For unstable angina, a 236% reduction in deaths, cardiac events were down 52% in a meta-study. Those with a previous MI, 2 studies found a reduction by 44%; its method is by hindering artery infection. “Reduction of stroke & death of 25% to 42% using 900 to 1300 mg aspirin daily” AHA. Statins block aspirin. As a powerful antioxidant, ASA protects fibrinogen from oxidation, a key clotting factor; thus, reducing the risk of/extent of a clot forming during an MI, in 1998. ASA prevents atherosclerosis, a summary. Enteric-coated aspirin has the acetate group removed in the large intestines, where ASA is dissolved and this “deacetylated which prevents antiplatelet activity of ASA, 1984. ASA protects endothelial cells, 2020. Since H pylori increases the risk of an MI over 2-fold, aspirin’s antimicrobial effect reduces the risk of ulcer heartburn and MI .

Hypertension

the major cause is atherosclerosis; however, marketing promotes reduced muscle contraction in the media tunica of the artery, and thereby treatment with muscle relaxants—blocking the catechol amines. Aspirin very gradually reduces blood pressure in part through lowering cellular glucose & fructose, lowering insulin resistamnce, through benefits for the MTD, and other ways described above.

Immune system functions

Aspirin improves immunoregulatory potential and modulates the innate and adaptive immune responses.” ASA improves immune response, 2012. “There are several lines of evidence on ASA’s effects on bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites and their associated infections,” 2022, a suury of the journal articles..Inflammation: “Furthermore, aspirin, while inhibiting the ability of COX-2 to form pro-inflammatory products such as the prostaglandins,” Wiki 2024. Aspirin suppresses some reactions, yet it still permits the immune system to fight infection and colds, and also helps because it is antimicrobial. The pharma anti-immune drugs are not selective like aspirin; they promote TB, colds, cancer, infections, etc., viz., bad pharma promotes sickness, that is where the money is.

Insulin resistance

a major cause of both diabetes, weight gain, conditions of affluence, and age-related conditions. Elevated levels affect many regulatory functions, including plasma glucose. Aspirin lowers both glucose and insulin resistance, July 2002. “We show that high doses of salicylates reverse hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, and dyslipidemia,” and those with the highest insulin resistance had the most conditions over 6 years, Aug 2001.

Metabolic syndrome

is a family of conditions that increase the risk of MI. Pharma as the teacher, has sculptured the causes to promote drug sales. Hyperglycemia, hypertension, and cholesterolemia are treated with drugs. The major path starts with the excess of the reactive reducing sugar fructose. Fructose-fed rats were given aspirin at an equivalent of our 975 mgs for 6 weeks. Aspirin reversed all of the signs of metabolic syndrome: hypertension, reversed insulin resistance, prevented oxidative stress, which is causal for endothelial dysfunction, and promoted vascular remodeling, at 2008, 2001 for the mechanism.

Mental Illness

There is compelling evidence to support an aetiological role for inflammation, oxidative e and nitrosative stress (OS & NS), and mitochondrial dysfunction in the pathophysiology of major neuropsychiatric disorders, including depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and Alzheimer's disease (AD)… new therapy for a range of neuropsychiatric disorders.” FULL 2013, for schizophrenia, bipolar, and low brain metabolism. “Aspirin should slow or prevent the demyelination of neurons in MS patients by increasing the expression of ciliary neurotrophic factor. There are several advantages of aspirin over other available therapies for MS,” full 2013; and for a review of 11 different effects of aspirin on MS with links, 2015\. ASA effect mitochondrial metabolism and energy utilization,” 2012.

Mental illness promoted by drugs.

The obvious one is ethanol, a neurotoxin. In small amounts the change is small. The controlled alcoholics are functional, but weak cognitive functions; the binge alcoholic is devastated. Sadly, nearly all the medications for mental illness lower the production of ATP by their effects upon the mitochondria and the citric acid cycle that makes ATP. Pharma’s drugs cause weight gain, lethargy, life-long dependence, addiction, suicide, depression, reduced fellow feeling, and increased psychiatric episodes. With regular usage for several years, the withdrawal therefrom is far more dangerous and difficult than opioid withdrawal. It often takes 6 months of gradual reduction of the downer, for the patient to be free of adverse consequences. Some develop tardive dyskinesia (uncontrollable movements), which often lasts for over a decade. They alter the normal amounts of neurosteroids. They are downers, profitable for pharma and devastating for the patient. The major causes of death increase with these medications: cancer, heart attacks, dementia, diabetes, et al. Peter Gotzsche, in Deadly Psychiatry and Organized Denial (2015), calculated based on Danish figures that in the EU and the U.S. there were 500,000 deaths in 2014. I calculate for all uses of those drugs 3 times that amount for drugs with sedative effects. He subsequently wrote Mental Health Survival Kit and Withdrawal from Psychiatric Drugs, a User Guide, (2022) a book on. He is an international known professor is not on the take. A daily 325 mg os aspirin will slow the going down the stairs to the basement.

Mitochondria (MTD), the energy (ATP) factory

“A mitochondrion (pl. mitochondria) is an organelle found in the cells of most eukaryotes, such as animals, plants and fungi. Mitochondria have a double membrane structure and use aerobic respiration to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is used throughout the cell as a source of chemical energy.”¹⁵ There are many functions besides the production of ATP. It produced about 90% of the chemical energy used by the body. In the mitochondria, its citric cycle (Krebs cycle), there is add a phosphate onto ADP to form ATP. The energy from removing the phosphate is what supplies 90% of the fuel for the production of chemicals in the body. Glucose and fatty acids are the main energy sources powering the citric cycle. The amount of ATP produced from a fraction of a mole is approximately the weight of the person. At the age of 65, that production has dropped by 40%. Aspirin is an antioxidant; it protects mitochondria.

Mitochondria dysfunction (MTDD)

: MTDD has multiple pathogenic effects because of the low production of ATP. Senior of 65, with MTDD, averages about 60% of the ATP produced when 25 years of age. Aspirin, because of its functions in the MTD, it protects against reactive chemicals and promotes the replacement of MTDD and other effects as described above. The main reason for MTDD is excess fructose in the Western diet, the conditions of affluence. Excessive fructose glycates bonds) to amino acids in proteins, other sources of electrons in the MTD, such as in mtDNA (mitochondrial DNA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids used in cell membranes. Mitochondria don’t have receptors for sugars, but fructose is attached to shipments of proteins and polyunsaturated fatty acids from the endoplasmic reticulum as needed. To repeat, some of these compounds from the endoplasmic have fructose attached to the proteins and polyunsaturated fatty acids as needed. This is the major cause of MTDD; the MTDD releases more ROS (reactive oxygen species), which hastens the accumulation of MTDD. ASA induces apoptosis to remove cells that need to be replaced because of stress by reactive chemicals (2000). Aspirin enhances the rate of replacement (2013). Aspirin as an antioxidant lowers the glycation in the endoplasmic reticulum, thereby reducing the fructose stress in the mitochondria. With increased ATP production in the mitochondria comes a positive circle, the increased rate of repair and replacement of dysfunctional mitochondria 2013 The development of these conditions is because of mitochondrial dysfunctions. Diabetics have a greater percentage of dysfunctional mitochondria. Evidence of aspirin benefits comes from the increase in fatty acid oxidation by the mitochondria and 1993, and restores ATP level.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

): Aspirin (ASA) 1,300 mg/day or placebo in a double-blind crossover study. Results favored ASA for the main clinical outcomes: Modified Fatigue Impact Scale scores (p = 0.043) and treatment preference (p = 0.012). There were no significant adverse effects,” 2005.

Obesity overweight

We show that high doses of salicylates reverse hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, and dyslipidemia in obese rodents by sensitizing insulin signaling by overexpression of IKKbeta, which attenuates insulin signaling, 2001. Aspirin increases fatty acid oxidation by the mitochondria, 2017, ASA increases the mitochondria production of ATP by turning up mitophagy, the replacement of low producing MTD.

Osteoarthritis

(OA) “A degenerative joint disease involving degradation of joints including articular cartilage and subchondral bone, for which aspirin promotes healing & relieves pain, and “is the drug of choice” Merck 1987, P 973. It is the 4th leading cause of oseteoarthritis, 2025. Because of its low inflammation, it is distinguished from rheumatoid arthritis.

Osteoporosis

is a systemic skeletal disorder characterized by low bone mass, micro-architectural deterioration of bone tissue leading to more porous bone, and consequent increase in fracture risk, Wiki 2027. TAspirin can inhibit osteoclast differentiation and bone resorption activity in a dose-dependent manner, thus exerting its anti-osteoporosis effect” at 2013, also, and, and. ASA has a positive effect on bone remodeling. The main causes are bisphosphonates, which put phosphate (PO3) in the slots used for calcium. Others include low sex anabolic hormones (including testosterone, estradiol, DHEA, and progesterone); they regulate bone remodeling

Oxidative stress

is reduced by aspirin through the mitochondria-lysosome axis. “Preincubation with aspirin (3–30 μM) protected endothelial cells from hydrogen peroxide-induced toxicity and increased viability in a concentration-dependent fashion by up to 64% of control,” 1997, and much more.

Parkinson’s disease

how aspirin prevents AD and PD; “DHA (and NPD1?) and aspirin induce brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) protein expression and this protein has a crucial role in neuronal survival,” 2008. The risk of PD associated with aspirin or aspirin-containing medications was 0.74 (95% CI: 0.49–1.12), 2006.

Pulmonary embolism

following high-risk surgery, 6% versus 15.4% placebo--p 231, similar with 1,200 mg, and, and 3 gm.

Rheumatoid arthritis

(RA) an autoimmune disease causes inflammation and joint pain. Merck Manual 16th Edition, 1987, p. 960, recommends a dose “from 3 to 7.5 gm, the average 4.5 gm” for RA and the same in the 17th Edition p.1308. Goodman & Gilman supra, aspirin is “the gold standard… The majority of patients with rheumatoid arthritis can be controlled with salicylates alone” for RA. As an anti-inflammatory drug, it slows the autoimmune attack, reduces pain, at 1967 while also lowering the risk for cancer CDV etc.

Stroke neuroprotective

Aspirin is preventive against stroke not only because of its antithrombotic properties but also by other direct effects. The aim of this study was to elucidate its direct neuroprotective effects.... Aspirin inhibited OGD-induced neuronal damage at concentrations lower (0.3 mmol/L) than those reported to act via inhibition of the transcription factor nuclear factor-κB (which are \>1 mmol/L), an effect that correlated with the inhibition caused by aspirin on glutamate release” Stroke Journal 2002, 2002, and Science 1995. In Neuochemistry 2008 “Aspirin also inhibited ischaemia-induced decrease in brain ATP levels.” “The neurotoxic effects of the dopamine‐selective neurotoxin MPTP (15 mg/kg, s.c.), in mice, were totally prevented by systemic administration of salicylate”, at 2002. Neuroprotective effects of aspirin. . . useful in the management of patients with high risk of ischemic events; and promotes superior healing following a stroke at 2002, and “significant reduction in infarct volume” at Dec 2001

Testosterone and other anabolic steroids

“We suggest that androgen deficiency [testosterone] is associated with IR, T2D, MetS, and with increased deposition of visceral fat, which serves as an endocrine organ, producing inflammatory cytokines and thus promoting endothelial dysfunction and vascular disease” 2013. “Biochemical evidence indicates that testosterone is involved in promoting glucose utilization by stimulating glucose uptake, glycolysis and mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. Testosterone is also involved in lipid homeostasis in major insulin-responsive target tissues, such as liver, adipose tissue and skeletal muscle,” 2013. The benefits of aspirin and testosterone, along with DHEAS add significantly to QALY and longevity. The InCHIANTI Study on 3 anabolic steroids (testosterone, DHEAS, and IGF1) measured at day for senior men, then 6 years later, the death records were checked. Those with the lowest for all 3, 75% of them had died. Those with the highest 25% for all 3, only 9% died at year 6. Secondly, testosterone and aspirin together ameliorate the loss of weight.

Weight loss

Any drug that lowers insulin resistance will lower leptin resistance, which will reverse the gain in weight. Aspirin those that. See headings insulin resistance and diabetes above.

Longevity

A series of experiments have shown that aspirin extends median life in C. elegans by 25%--not maximum lifespan. Several mechanisms have been uncovered and published in numerous journal articles: 1\) effect on inulin-like signal through transcription factors DAF16/FOXO genes, 2\) increases catalase and SOD transcripts, and 3\) acetylates about 20% of mitochondrial proteins, and slightly less non-mitochondrial proteins. Median extension was also found in mice. With flatworm, there were gains from neuro and antioxidant protection that extended life—YouTube, 35 min.

What I take and would do

For minor pain & anti-inflammatory 975 mg (the old standard was 2 x 500 mg) to start, then as needed to 4 gm daily. For arthritis, 2.5 to 4 grams per day (see Merck Manual 1992 and before); for protection from cancer 325 mg; for cancer treatment 1,300 mg daily. For arrhythmia, which can cause a blood clot, 325 mg twice daily. For heartburn use Tums, a source of calcium; protein pump (PPI) inhibitors are the worst choice. For heartburn to confirm H. pylori, have 2 tests because of over a 25% false negative. The bacteria are the cause of heartburn. Avoid pharma’s anticoagulant; instead, take 325 to 975 mg aspirin daily; the need for blood thinners is grossly exaggerated by pharma. For prevention of conditions of affluence, 325 to 650 mg, depending on overall health. Since aspirin lowers blood glucose and thus fructose levels, it protects mitochondria, which is the major reason why long-term use has so many benefits. In 1993, as recommended by Dr. Wright, I started with 2.5 grams for chronic back pain, and since 1995, I have been taking two 325, one in the morning and the other in the evening. Abdominal exercises 10 minutes a day fixed my back problem within 2 years, and sleeping in a recliner prevents sleeping in the wrong positions. I have zero heartburn, and near zero stiffness and soreness of back muscles. I still average 10 minutes of abdominal strengthening daily. Aspirin lowers blood glucose, a big bonus. Since 2014, I have been on a low-sugar diet, and since 2016, on a low-carb, high-fat diet (LCHF). At 81 years (2023), I ran an average of 60 miles a month and did weight training an average of 30 minutes a day. Because of academic burnout, I average 60 minutes a day in exercise, a positive alternative to television. The health problems we have start with a high-sugar diet as a baby. The best way to lower the risk of conditions of affluence (age-related conditions) is a keto diet, aerobic exercise, and for seniors, adding anabolic hormones (both for men and women), testosterone, and DHEA powder taken sublingually. I would also add desiccated thyroid 300 mg and 325 mg of aspirin. Yes, testosterone; it isn‘t an androgen; it is dihydrotestosterone. Testosterone is natural for women; it is over 10-fold above estradiol, the feminizing hormone, when she is 25. The hard one to do is the keto diet; intermittent fasting helps. That is another topic. I want you to be healthy.

Notes

Chemo wasn’t a prior requirement prior to excission in the 80s and before. There is of course were significant variation on types of cancer, stage of cancer, effectiveness of chemo , and the policy of the clinic. ↩
They replaced it with the toxic, of no value Tylenol (paracetamol acetaminophen). Paracetamol is in over 300 prescription drugs. ↩
Pharma and its dupes claim fructose is 7 times more reactive than glucose. Fructose is 32 times out of the cyclic form compared to glucose. Reactions occur when out of the cyclic form. ↩
The only other nation is New Zealand. There are ways to get around their nation’s prohibition, such as public informationals done by, for example, the heart association; in Canada, they watch the advertisements in their US programs. ↩
Their accounting records are designed to obscure analysis. ↩
Wiki, Aspirin, Aug 2026. ↩
For a 2 -age account of the procedure of purification (a window on 1825 chemistry) read The Genesis of a Wonder Drug: A Historical and Technical Perspective on the Discovery of Salicin, April 2026, ↩
Wiki, Aspirin, Aug 2026. ↩
Arthur Eichengrun claims to have advised Hoffman. In 1961, my high school chemistry class, including me, made aspirin in about 30 minutes. We purified it in the next chemistry class. ↩
Fructose as the major poison is the major theme in my upcoming book. Applying respondeat superior pharma as a teacher is the major cause, along with the mammalian brain, which responds positively to sweetness and cheap sugar. There is a chapter on economics in the upcoming book. It is tobacco ethics. ↩
Like pills of arsenic and mercury, the user doesn’t know the amount of harm, nor the pharmacist and physician. For some of the harm caused by the major biological stressor paracetamol (Tylenol) http://healthfully.org/rc/id5.html ↩
Aspirin also prevents atherosclerosis, see Uffe Ravnskov, Ignore the Awkard\! Another example of pharma framing a topic, he exposes it. It is covered by healthfully.org. ↩
Self-healing is verboten, thus pharma and its dupe Wikipedia, removed self-healing from the predicate. Repairing includes replacing dysfunctional cells which are replaced (apoptosis), and for other cells its repairing, ↩
Only the immature plaque leaks. It constricts blood flow 20% are less. Stents and bypass operation are for over 50% obstruction. In the future, cardiologists will be in the history books along with butchers who do bloodletting. For details including the journal support, read The Great Cholesterrol Con, by Anthony Colpo (2012, 452 pages). ↩
Wikipedia, Mitochondria, Aug 2026. ↩
I do not know of studies on higher doses for cancer. I have been taking 3.5 to 4 grams a day for over a year after the excision of a cancer. I do not notice any side effects. In 1993, I had a tingling in my ears for eight 325 mg; it lasted 2 years. About as loud a when you put a large shell over one ear. ↩
The reporting of side effects is controlled by the drug manufacturer. The occasional report is sent from the FDA to the manufacturer, who evaluates the claims, decides which are valid, then reports about once a year the total of events the manufacturer holds to be correct. “Oh, he died from old age (85), not the 3.5 grams a day of Tylenol for his arthritic pain, which was prescribed for the last 4 years. It was added to his opioid. Tylenol didn’t causes his kidneys to fail the manufacturer decided. The FDA only receives only the results, no record of the notices of side effects. It is the honor system of neoconservatism. I don’t trust government figures. As Prof. Ben Goldacre says, “The devil is in the details. ↩
NSAID are None Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug, this includes naproxen in Aleve, ibuprofen, Celebrex, and over 30 others. Naproxen, for example, has been shown when taken long-term to increase the risk of heart attacks at least 50% and Celebrex 300%, yet both are widely prescribed for arthritis. Vioxx was voluntarily removed by Merck when it was shown to increase the death rate from heart attacks by 400% in a study on the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease. In the last 20 years, Pfizer has lowered the risk in their studies of Celebrex, “The risks are similar to other NSAIDs, such as ibuprofen and naproxen. ↩
A cohort metastudy found that those who took 500 or more grams lifetime had a 2.4 times rate of death of the general population, and the death rate compared to those who took under 1,499 pills over 14 years, the death rate was 4.1 times. ↩
Acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) is readily converted (hydrolyzed) in the stomach to salicylic acid, and in this form is major bio-active form. ↩