Cutting Inflammation Could Cut Cancer Risk

TUESDAY, April 17 (HealthDay News) -- Reducing inflammation may help prevent cancer, suggest two Mayo Clinic studies presented Monday at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Los Angeles.
One study found that women who regularly used aspirin developed fewer cancers than women who didn't use the anti-inflammatory drug. Another study found that there may be an association between lung inflammation seen in asthma and increased risk of breast cancer spreading to the lungs.
The first study looked at more than 22,500 cancer-free postmenopausal women who took part in the Iowa Women's Health Study. A decade later, women who regularly used aspirin were 16 percent less likely to have developed cancer and 13 percent less likely to have died of cancer than women who did not use aspirin, the researchers found.
This same benefit was not seen in women who regularly used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
other than aspirin, said the study by researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
And while aspirin helped protect former and "never smokers" from cancer, that was not the case for women who were active smokers.
The findings do not mean that women should toss aside their NSAIDs or start taking aspirin on a regular basis, the Mayo Clinic researchers said.