Trump Is Right, Daily Aspirin Is Good For You

Scientists have discovered that President Trump is correct to recommend taking low dose aspirin every day.Although the study found that Mr. Trump is taking a little too much — and not for the right reason.Mr. Trump has been open that he has taken 325 milligrams of aspirin a day for decades. He says it prevents “thick blood pouring through my heart.”The new research, however, indicates that a much lower dose of 100 milligrams could reduce the risk of dementia in some adults.Researchers at Monash University analyzed data on more than 13,500 people to see whether a person’s genes changed how aspirin affected their dementia risk.The clearest signal involved genes associated with platelet count.Among the twenty percent of participants whose genes were most strongly linked to higher platelet counts, about 1 percent of those taking aspirin developed dementia, compared with 3.3 percent who received a placebo.That amounted to roughly a 70 percent lower relative risk of dementia.“Previous trials found aspirin didn’t prevent dementia when everyone was considered together,” the study’s lead author, Peter Fransquet, said. “Our findings suggest there may be more to the story.”The researchers called the findings hypothesis-generating and said they would need to be confirmed in other studies before aspirin could be considered as a targeted dementia-prevention treatment.So, for now, the study is not a reason to copy Trump’s aspirin routine. Current guidelines generally discourage older adults from starting daily aspirin solely to prevent a first heart attack or stroke because the bleeding risk can outweigh the benefit.But it raises a new question: whether genetics could eventually identify a smaller group of people for whom one of medicine’s oldest drugs has a benefit that larger trials missed.President Trump has said he has been taking aspirin for about 30 years. His physician said in January that the president took 325 milligrams a day for cardiac prevention, compared with 81 milligrams for a typical low-dose aspirin.President Trump has a simple explanation for why he keeps taking it. “They say aspirin is good for thinning out the blood, and I don’t want thick blood pouring through my heart,” he told the Wall Street Journal. “I want nice, thin blood pouring through my heart.”His doctors have tried to get him to cut back. President Trump has said they have suggested a smaller dose, but he has stuck with the larger one after taking it for decades. He has also pointed out that he has never had a heart attack.The aspirin has come up when President Trump has been asked about bruises on his hands. “I take the big aspirin,” he told reporters earlier this year. “And when you take the big aspirin, they tell you, you bruise.”He went on to give his own endorsement of the drug: “I would say take aspirin if you like your heart. But don’t take aspirin if you don’t want to have a little bruising.”When a reporter asked about another bruise on his hand in January, President Trump said his doctor had told him, “You don’t have to take that, sir. You’re very healthy.” President Trump said he replied, “I’m not taking any chances.”

Trump Is Right, Daily Aspirin Is Good For You

Trump Is Right, Daily Aspirin Is Good For You

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